Dreams of Dragons
by the real narnia
Summary: Papalogia AU. Acnologia joins Fairy Tail and ends up raising five young dragon slayers (and helping with two more). Acnologia x Anna Heartfilia. Eventual Nalu, Gale, Gruvia, Jerza, StiRoYu, Kinabra, etc. Cover image by acnologias-ass on tumblr.
1. Chapter One - Mavis Vermillion

**Chapter One – Mavis Vermillion**

 _"But it is one thing to read about dragons and another to meet them."_

― _Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea_

* * *

Acnologia hated a lot of things.

He hated people. The ocean. The cold. People. Butterflies – _he was a grown dragon, dammit_. Math. People. And most of all, Mavis Vermillion.

Okay, so maybe he became a _little_ fond of her (a lot of fond of her), but he still hated her.

Though maybe the ocean came in second place, rather than humans – after all, it was the reason he met Mavis in the first place.

See, as much as he hated the ocean, he still usually had to fly over it. After all, it did span a large part of the world.

He should know. He's a three-hundred-year-old dragon. He gets bored.

But on that fateful day, he decided he needed a bath, and the only place he could land was an island.

Of course, he _could_ just bathe in the ocean, but he still remembered the last two times he had done that.

The frisky whale was bad enough, but the damn killer whale that thought he was its father drew the line.

He wasn't about to risk a third time.

So, he landed on an island that could maybe fit him about ten times over, and turned back into his human form, because he doubted that there was a river or lake big enough for his dragon form to bathe in.

Besides, he ended up cleaner when he washed as a human.

He had _thought_ the island was deserted.

It wasn't.

"Hello, sir! Did you see the dragon that landed around here?"

"What the _fuck_?"

Acnologia did not like being startled, especially while bathing. He reflexively threw a bundle of Chaos Magic at her, and the tiny girl jumped to the side easily.

"Sorry for startling you, Mister!"

He peered at the small girl, glad that the water he was in was deep enough. "Who the hell are you? And what are you doing on this island?

"My name is Mavis Vermillion! And I live here!"

"You…live here?" Acnologia asked incredulously. "Alone?"

"Nope! My friend Zera is here, too!"

She pointed at an empty space beside her, and concentrating on his magic, he was able to see her illusion – a personal illusion, and a very strong one, too.

He should know. Chaos Magic is built around illusions.

She would do well, learning Chaos Magic.

He shook off the thought immediately.

He would not teach anyone Dragon Slaying Magic, not after what happened last time.

"Are there any _adults_ on this island?" he asked the girl – Marin? Mable?

"No," the girl said sadly.

"How long have you been alone here?" he asked.

"…the past two years," the girl answered. "Two years ago, the magic guild Blue Skull invaded and attacked Red Lizard. We were the only survivors."

So not only was the illusion strong enough for its own personality, it was based on a real person, too.

This girl had some inherently strong magic.

And depending on how close their relationship was, in combination with how desperate and powerful this girl was at the time of her friend's death, she might even have created a soul bond - literally connecting the dead girl back to Earth by constantly supplying magic to her in order for the dead girl to have a physical form.

 _So maybe he could..._

Acnologia bit the inside of his tongue, drawing blood until he came to his senses.

All dragons had a _pull_ to train a dragon slayer – it was something that happened all at once, triggered by the first slayer.

Once the first dragon slayer had turned into a dragon, it released a type of virus that made everyone want to raise a dragon slayer, whether they were _for_ or _against_ humans.

The only thing that made the dragons that hated humans happy was that eventually, all dragon slayers became a dragon. If they raised them in solitude, away from humanity, and taught them for a long enough time, it would almost be like they were never human in the first place.

Despite everything, though, Acnologia still liked becoming human, every once in awhile.

"How old are you, girl?"

"Vera and I are both eight!"

Not only powerful, but oddly intelligent and able to survive in the wilderness.

 _Are you so pathetic that you latch onto the first other human you see?_ He roared at the dragon half of his soul.

 _She's a good candidate!_ It insisted.

 _I don't care, I refuse to train a slayer!_

 _She's eight, are you really going to leave her here?_

 _She can obviously take care of herself!_ Acnologia shouted.

"So, did you see it?" she asked.

"See what?" he asked, brought back to reality.

"The dragon!" she repeated – and then ran right over what he was going to say when he opened his mouth. "Wow, I'd really love to meet a dragon!"

"Why?" he asked, curious.

"Well, for one, dragons are supposed to be hundreds of years old! Imagine all of the things that it could teach me! I mean the library is nice, but personal experience is something else, and I'd love to hear first-hand accounts…"

He blinked, and before he could stop his dragon, asked, "You like to learn?"

 _Shut up, I'm not training her!_ He yelled at it _._

"Oh, I love to learn!" she said enthusiastically. "I've read a majority of the school library here, but I'd love to learn more!"

* * *

He was invited to dinner.

At some point, the girl had decided to invite him to dinner, her illusion of a friend badgering her the whole way and repeating that it was a horrible idea.

He went anyway, even though he hadn't told them his name.

Somehow, he ended up staying for another five years.

Oh yes…how he hated Mavis Vermillion.

If it wasn't for her, he never would have become a member of Fairy Tail.

* * *

Acnologia may have hated Mavis, but if it wasn't for that day, he would've turned in a feral monster in a bit over a hundred years.

That one encounter brought him back to humanity, and eventually, over a century of time, saved him.

And sent them all along a different path.

* * *

 **I am sorry. My muse hates me for starting another story.**

 **I have no idea how often this will be updated, but it is unlikely to be as often as Ripples - maybe once every or every other week.**

 **Blame papalogia and acnologia's ass (on tumblr) for inspiring this.**

 **And yes, just like with Ripples, it'll be awhile before the Dragon Slayers come in; though it probably shouldn't be as long as Ripples.**


	2. Chapter Two - Formation of Fairy Tail

**Chapter Two – The Formation of Fairy Tail**

" _Always speak politely to an enraged dragon."_

― _Steven Brust, Jhereg_

* * *

"Who the hell are you and why are you on my island?"

Acnologia stared down the two invaders who almost _definitely_ did not live on Tenroujima.

"This is _your_ island?" the slightly-intimidating (to anyone other than Acnologia) blonde inquired.

"Yes."

 _No._

It was technically Mavis's. And maybe Vera's, but she wasn't exactly real.

They didn't need to know that, however.

"Uh…" the dark haired one stammered.

Acnologia glared at them. "Get. _Off."_

They exchanged a look.

Acnologia rolled his eyes. After his time alive, he was easily able to recognize what they were. "The orb was stolen years ago, so get off my damn island, treasure hunters."

 _That_ got a reaction from them, and he had to admit that it was entertaining.

He didn't exactly get much entertainment nowadays, seeing as he mostly watched over children.

They exchanged a look again.

"We will take our leave," the blonde said. "However…" he hesitated. "First we must pick up our comrade."

Acnologia's expression darkened. "What?" he growled. "There's someone else on the island?"

He had smelled the third person on them, but had figured that they had just left them on their ship, in order to man the boat. It seemed unlikely for one to split from two unless he was incredibly strong.

His teeth clenched. Mavis could take care of herself now, but it still worried him.

* * *

"What is happening here?" Acnologia growled from the doorway.

"I was kicking his butt!" Mavis explained enthusiastically, shouting and pumping a fist up in the air.

He gave the third member of their group, a blonde kid, a look up and down. "Seems fine to me," he grunted.

Mavis rolled her eyes. "In a battle of _wits_ , not a physical fight, Ac-nii!"

The blonde man started laughing. "Your name is _Acne_?"

Needless to say, the wall Acnologia punched him towards did not survive.

* * *

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Acnologia growled towards the thirteen-year-old.

"I _said_ , you're not coming with us!" Mavis said.

"Why not?" he growled.

"You're staying here, and fixing the wall." She pointed over to the library, and the gaping hole in its side.

Acnologia resisted the urge to break something, and instead put his head in his hands. "So, let me get this straight – you're leaving with a group of three grown men, all strangers to you, in order to retrieve an orb that's been missing from this island for almost seven years now. An orb you didn't even _notice_ was missing."

"Yes," Mavis said, not backing down.

"Absolutely not!"

"You're not the boss of me!"

"I'm your sensei!" Acnologia barked.

"Please, Ac-nii! Please! It's an _adventure_!"

Her eyes were sparkling.

Damn.

It was always the eyes that got him.

"Fine! Fine. Ugh. This is ridiculous. I'll be coming to the mainland as soon as I'm done fixing the library."

Mavis glared at him. "No cheating. Not like last time."

He grimaced. 'Last time' when he had broken a wall in the library, he had used Chaos Magic to create an illusion of the wall being fixed. This lead to some of the animals getting into the library and eating some books.

Mavis did not talk to him for a _month_.

When it comes to her books, that girl can hold a _grudge_.

"Fine," he growled again.

He waved at them as they left the island, Vera tagging along with Mavis, of course, and tried to ease any worry he held for her in his heart.

After all, she was _his_ Slayer. She knew how to fight.

But still…it had taken him two years to give in to his urge. He had not started training Mavis until she was ten, and she only had three years under his tutelage.

Still – she was a Chaos Slayer, and more importantly, _his_ , which means she should be able to take down any sort of measly dark guild.

* * *

" _What_ the _fuck_?" Acnologia hissed.

He had left the island and tracked them by scent until he reached a town by the name of Magnolia.

And he had found them in the forest.

With _Zeref_.

"Acnologia," the dark wizard said, looking at him. "You're looking…human."

"Get the fuck out of here, _Zeref_ ," Acnologia hissed, and Mavis gasped as she took in the man's name.

"You're the Dark Wizard Zeref?" she asked, peeking out from behind Acnologia, who had shoved her behind him the instance he had spotted the man.

Zeref looked down in shame. "Yes."

"Wow, I never knew that Zeref was cursed by Ankhseram!" Mavis said excitedly, moving out from behind Acnologia. "So, you're three hundred years old, right?! There's so much you can teach me."

Acnologia reached out and grabbed the back of her dress, stopping the thirteen-year-old from running forward. "What part of _Dark Wizard_ , don't you understand? I swear, you're going to get yourself killed, you foolish girl." _Also, you already have a three-hundred-year old teaching you_.

"Says the _Dragon of the Apocalypse_ ," Zeref retorted.

"I'm sorry," Prat said. "What is going on here?"

"That's what I'd like to know, Prat," Acnologia said to him.

"It's pronounced 'Precht'."

"Don't care. What. Happened?"

"Well…" the blonde kid said. Yu…something. "We left the island and came here searching for the Dark Guild that destroyed Red Lizard. And it turned out that they're here in Magnolia. Mavis tried to scare them off with illusions first, and that didn't work, and then she used a different type of magic, but the other guy did something…"

"Is that why Prick lost an eye?"

" _Precht_."

"Yeah, yeah. So, then what?"

"Well, we retreated to the forest," Warren picked up. "And at first we were going to wait for you; Mavis said you're really powerful."

"I'm sorry," Yuki said, interrupting and pointing at Zeref. "What does he mean by _'Dragon of the Apocalypse'_?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, Yuni," Acnologia growled, facing Warren again. "Warren, continue."

"Warrod, and we were going to wait but then Mavis stumbled up on this guy when he was bathing-"

" _Really_?" Acnologia asked, looking at the girl he was holding. "What is it with you and coming across powerful wizards while we're bathing? You've got to stop that!"

"I didn't know he was there!" she whined.

"Continue, Warrot," Acnologia said.

"Warrod, and now I know you're getting our names wrong on purpose. Anyway, Mavis convinced this guy to teach us magic while we waited for you."

Acnologia sighed, looking at Zeref. "Get out of here, Zeref. I'll take over."

"Gladly," Zeref said, backing away. "I'd be fine with never seeing you again. You're worse than I am."

"Oh?" Acnologia growled. "How _so_?"

"At least I don't take enjoyment in death," Zeref hissed, looking at Mavis. "Goodbye, Mavis. It was a pleasure meeting you. It's been far too long since I've had the joy of human contact."

"Bye Zeref!" Mavis said happily. "I hope to see you soon, again!"

Acnologia sighed. Honestly, Mavis probably attracted more trouble than she was worth.

No going back now, though.

* * *

Acnologia was not a happy dragon. At all.

Mavis, his sweet, innocent, naïve ( _idiotic and stupid_ ) little slayer, had used a spell that _Zeref_ of all people had taught her.

Granted, when she said that it was the only spell that would save Yuri, she was not lying. In order to take the blonde idiot's soul out of the giant skeleton (and no, that piece of shit was _not_ a dragon) and put it back in his own body, _Law_ was the only spell she (or even he) had in their arsenal that could save him.

She _should_ have cut her losses.

Mavis wouldn't age anymore, though it was more than that.

Acnologia could feel the inactive curse inside her – the Curse of Contradiction.

It would hurt Mavis worse than it ever did Zeref – all Mavis _did_ was care for people.

It was the reason she cast that damned spell in the first place.

He would still be able to teach her magic – at the age of thirteen, and as a Slayer, her magical container had already adapted to her soul, rather than her body, and would continue to grow. But she would never turn into a dragon, or achieve Dragon Force, as those were physical changes from a magical soul. If she was a Take-Over Mage, for example, she'd be unable to use that type of magic ever again.

Acnologia was grateful for his Chaos Magic – it means that he'd never have to leave her. He was one of the few people on the planet who would be able to withstand the Death Energy she would release.

She'd never have to be truly alone.

He sighed. Yeah, she'd definitely tamed him. Geez.

He was the Dragon of the Apocalypse, and he was thinking that it was a good thing that he was immortal so one girl wouldn't be completely lonely for the rest of her life.

For one thing, Yuri (he'd doubt he'd ever forget the blonde idiot's name _now_ ) told Mavis about Zera being an illusion, even though Acnologia had actively warned him that it was likely Zera would disappear completely once Mavis knew.

She didn't.

In fact, it had been apparent that Zera and Mavis had known for a while, at least since she'd started learning Chaos Magic.

Rather than Zera going back, however, Mavis had a strong enough bond and connection to her Chaos Magic that she could easily channel her connection to Zera and anchor her back to Earth.

What did they use to anchor Zera, in case Mavis was unable to hold the connection?

Him.

Zera was connected to _him_ (though how Mavis pulled it off, he had no idea, and she refused to say), and she would be connected to him as long as he lived.

Honestly, at the end of all of this, all he wanted to do was go back to the island.

Which wasn't going to happen.

Because Mavis decided, of all things, to _create a magic guild_.

"Do…uh, do we have to use that name?" Yuri stammered.

"Get over it," Acnologia said.

"Oh, you're joining too, Ac-nii!" Mavis said. "Actually, I think you should be the guild master!"'

"Only if you want me to burn down the guild hall," he retorted.

And so, after three hundred years of living out in the wilderness, he ended up in the public eye, and became an official guild mage…

Because there were actually no rules that said you had to be human to join a guild.

* * *

 **I'm working on making these chapters longer.**

 **ALSO! So, some of you guys seem to think I came up with this! I didn't. It's been floating around for awhile. I'm pretty sure it was created by papalogia, acnologias-ass (who drew the cover pic, thanks again!), and kushexi on tumblr. Papalogia has written fanfiction and the other two have drawn fanart. There are a few (like maybe three or four) papalogia fics out there (like the one called 'Father' by papalogia on Fanfiction and an AcLu/Papalogia fic by GemNika) but there was a large absence of it, and since I had to make Acnologia the villain in Ripples, I decided to start this one.**

NEWS: Speaking of which, acnologia's-ass ended up illustrating their favorite part of this chapter!

w(3x).acnologias- ass. tumblr (dot com)

post/168337600433/hey-i-love-your-artwork-and-i-recently-started

 **This could also be considered a bit of a fix-it fic, because I refuse to believe that Acnologia would NOT get involved in certain things if he became a part of civilization, and so you will also see some changes from his actions...**


	3. Chapter Three - Dawn of a New Era

**Precht leaves a little later than he did originally because he wants to try and get extra information out of Acnologia. Because of this, Makarov is older when he becomes guild master. Also, I made up Ivan's age. (Did some math with Mari and Laxus).**

* * *

 **Chapter Three – The Dawn of a New Era**

" _Noble dragons don't have friends. The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive."_

― _Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!_

* * *

Acnologia knew that change was coming; he could sense it easily.

Many things had happened over the years; Mavis's curse had activated, and being inserted in a lacrima caused her to become just as invisible as Zera.

She chose to spend time with the girl on Tenrou, again, and together they were forever thirteen.

And he was stuck in the guild because she refused to let him return, and she wanted him to 'watch over her family'.

God, how he hated her sometimes.

Yuri died, and Warrod left, and Precht began acting weird, before he finally disappeared into the distance, leaving _him_ (of all the damn people) as the third master.

 _Yeah, not happening_ , he thought, grabbing the back of Makarov's shirt (Yuri's son, who was around three times easier to tolerate than his father) and started dragging him to the basement.

"Wha – Acno, what are you doing?"

Acnologia had practically helped raise Makarov, and he was only getting used to 'Acno', rather than 'Uncle Acno'.

He was starting to get a bit fond of children, now, but at least no one _knew_ that.

"You're going to be the fourth guild master. Congrats."

"What? Why?" Makarov asked, gasping.

"Because if I'm the guild master any longer, I'll burn the guild hall down."

Makarov said nothing, knowing that this wasn't even a threat, but rather, a fact.

"But…can I even be guild master? I mean-"

"You are plenty qualified," Acnologia said. "Plus, Porlyusica is pregnant with your child."

"HOW DO YOU _KNOW_ THAT?" Makarov shrieked.

"I can smell it," Acnologia said plainly. "This will give you the chance to raise your child properly. By working as guild master, you also won't be going on jobs."

"…I see," Makarov said. He was nearing forty-two, and he knew that Acnologia had a point.

"But first, something you must know – something all Masters of Fairy Tail must know."

They had entered the basement and came to a halt in front of a set of doors Makarov had never seen before.

"This, is the Lumen Histoire…"

* * *

The same year that Makarov's child was born, Acnologia felt the presence of a huge being with magical power on the other side of Fiore.

He traveled there, and to his surprise, found that it was a baby.

An abandoned baby, with nothing more than a name embroidered on the blanket he was wrapped in.

With this discovery, Acnologia sighed. The birth of someone _this_ powerful meant that a new age was coming (something he had been wary about when Makarov was born, but ultimately discarded); he would have to pay attention in the coming years, but he knew that something new would be on the horizon – though whether it was in five years or twenty, was the real question.

Acnologia took the baby and returned to the guild, plopping the child down on Makarov's desk.

His eyes widened as he looked at the child. "What…immense power…"

"He's yours now. I found him abandoned. Have fun raising him."

"WHAT!" Makarov yelled, but Acnologia was already gone, returning to a cave in the mountains that no one knew the whereabouts of.

Makarov sighed and picked up the other baby, checking his name in the blanket before placing him down next to Ivan, in the crib near his desk. "Meet your new brother, Ivan. This is Gildarts. Gildarts Clive Dreyar."

* * *

Two years later, Makarov was named as a Ten Wizard Saint, and Acnologia was named as the Dragon King, the most powerful being alive (he was not going to protest that), because the Council is full of uncreative idiots that can't name things and just steal them instead (he'd already been known as the Dragon King for years now, even before he had met Mavis). The Council didn't need to announce a title for it to be recognized.

Acnologia then proceeded to beat the shit out of every Wizard Saint at once, with the exception of Makarov and Warrod, who stood to the side, laughing.

Within five minutes, Acnologia approached the two on the sidelines and they left to go eat some lunch together. "That was actually quite relaxing," Acnologia mused. "Perhaps I'll do it again sometime."

* * *

As they grew up, Acnologia became fond of one of the Dreyar brats, and absolutely despised the other. Gildarts was smart, easy going, and curious. Ivan was dark, sadistic, and evil. If anyone was to be termed a 'devil-child' that kid would fit the bill.

Unfortunately, to the others it just seemed like he had an 'attitude problem'.

Acnologia disagreed. He could smell the difference in the man, something that made him want to kill the boy almost instantly – he only didn't as a favor to Makarov.

And the fact that he specifically used magic on Acno to 'see if he would bleed red like everyone else' was just proof, as far as Acno was concerned.

He kept an eye on the child over the years, but damn, did he hate him.

* * *

It turned out to be a bit more than twenty years, (during which a few powerful presences appeared, not that Acno did anything) but the next greatest warrior of the generation was born.

This time, however, Acnologia got a warning.

"Come on, Uncle Acno!" a man whined. "Mari's going to give birth soon! My nephew is about to be born! This is an important moment in guild history!"

Acno sighed in his cave. He should've known this annoying kid would bother him.

"Don't make me try and find you!" Gildarts Dreyar shouted. "You know I'll break that mountain trying to find you. Just come out and come to the guild with me."

Acnologia rolled his eyes and crawled out of the cave, still in his dragon form. He looked down at Gildarts and roared angrily.

Gildarts rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Come on, don't be ridiculous, Uncle Acno. Let's go to the guild."

Acnologia didn't transform, but instead spoke. " **I don't like your shithead of a brother.** "

"Look," Gildarts said. "I'll admit Ivan isn't the nicest person, but come on! His son is being born, this is important! Look, if you don't want to support Ivan, at least come to support me, Makarov and Mari."

Acnologia sighed and transformed back.

He knew the relationship between the two boys wasn't the best. Gildarts was more powerful, and Ivan's jealousy only fueled the piece of shit into being worse than he already was. In addition to that, there was Mari. Over a year ago, Mari and Gildarts were in love.

Now Mari was giving birth to his brother's baby.

As far as he could tell, Mari wasn't too happy about who the father was, either.

It was a tense situation, and honestly, Acnologia was a bit surprised that Gildarts didn't tear his brother apart. In dragon culture, it's something that would have been done almost immediately – stealing your kin's mate (or any mate) is a capital offense. All dragons, no matter their opinions, agree on that.

They got to the guild right as a baby's cry was heard, and Gildarts sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Mavis, we missed the gory part."

"Speak for yourself, you don't have to smell it," Acnologia muttered, following Gildarts inside, where Makarov, Ivan, Porlyusica and Mari were.

"You know," Acnologia continued conversationally, thinking back to what Gildarts said upon arrival. "Back _before_ Mavis, we used to say things like 'Thank _Acnologia'_ , and 'Oh My _Acnologia'_."

"I'm 110% sure that you're just bullshitting me because you want to boost your ego," Gildarts said, picking up speed and nearly breaking down the infirmary door.

"I WANNA SEE MY NEPHEW!" he sobbed.

" _This_ is one of the most powerful wizards in the guild?" Acnologia muttered under his breath.

"Ahh, it's a joyous day!" Makarov said, dancing around, currently four feet and still shrinking. "Look at my grandson! He's so adorable!"

Mari refused to hand her son over to Gildarts (a wise decision) and instead passed him to Acnologia (a less wise decision), who held him gently.

The baby's hand wrapped around one of his fingers, and a shock was sent through Acnologia's body. He knew instantly that most of the Dreyar magic had passed over Ivan and gone straight to the child, and he sensed that this was the next great warrior of the age.

The new age had begun, and by doing the math, it was likely that whatever upcoming event was coming would occur within the next twenty to thirty years. That way, both Gildarts and the child in his arms would be in their primes.

He could tell that the young boy had a weak bodily system, but if he could bypass it, he would become one of the strongest mages in the guild, by far.

"What is his name?" he asked them.

"Laxus. Laxus Dreyar," Makarov said proudly, and Acnologia couldn't help but notice that Makarov seemed a lot prouder than Ivan did.

He doesn't know how Makarov messed up with _him_ ; Gildarts turned out just fine.

Kinda. He was still an annoying brat.

But some people were just born messed up, and crazy, and so maybe that's what happened with Ivan.

Acnologia should know. He's one of them.

"Laxus Dreyar," Acnologia murmured, looking back down at the baby. "A strong name for a strong warrior."

Ivan scoffed. "He nearly _died_ in childbirth."

Acnologia glared at him. "There is more than one type of strength. You'd know that if you possessed any."

* * *

Against all odds, Laxus continued to survive.

Laxus was adored by just about everyone in the guild…except Ivan.

Up until his mother's death, she constantly babied him. Since then, Gildarts has clung to Laxus, as the only reminder he had of his previous partner. Makarov absolutely adored Laxus, even though, with his shrinking size and Laxus's growing body, he wasn't going to be bigger than him for much longer.

As for Acnologia…he had never spent a lot of time at the guild, only visiting every once in a while to check on how they were doing – maybe once or twice a month.

The noise and the roar of the guild hurt his ears, and yet, he found himself visiting the guild more often, with Laxus there.

He will admit that it was, in part, because of power; it was the same reason why he might've treated Gildarts with more fondness than Ivan (but then again, Ivan was always a piece of shit). But something else was calling out to him about the boy, and it made Acnologia more and more wary.

Not about Laxus; but about what was coming.

"You've been coming here more often," Gildarts said, drinking some more ale.

"You've turned into a drunkard," Acnologia said, sitting beside him and watching the small Dreyar boy run around the guild.

"My mate died," Gildarts said bluntly.

"So, you finally accept the truth?" Acnologia asked.

Gildarts looked down into his mug.

Acnologia sighed. "Look, you're still _human_ , idiot."

"So?" he muttered quietly.

" _So_ , it means you can move on. You are not…tied to one person for your entire life, Gildarts."

 _Not like I was_.

Gildarts sighed, and was trying to stand up when a tiny child latched onto his leg. "Unca Gidats. Unca Gidats!"

Gildarts scooped up the little boy, tossing him up in the air and catching him. "Hey, kiddo. 'Uncle Gildarts' needs to go right now, okay? But why don't you play with Uncle Acno?"

He plopped Laxus onto Acnologia's lap, and Acnologia scowled down at the not-even-two-year-old boy, who had seen him many times but never quite interacted with him completely until then.

Laxus looked up at him in curiosity until… "Yower pwetty!"

" _What_ ," Acnologia said flatly.

"Pwetty," the toddler said, tugging on his hair. "Pwetty."

"I will eat you for breakfast," Acnologia said.

"Pwetty hawe!"

"Makarov, get your grandson off me before I kill him," Acnologia said flatly, and walked out the door the minute Makarov had taken Laxus off of his lap.

He might be fonder of people, but he would not tolerate a child calling him 'pretty'.

* * *

Over the next few years, he felt the births of several more powerful wizards, but he didn't go to them. Their magic didn't cry out for companionship as Gildarts did, and so he knew they were taken care of. Fate would bring them all together, in time.

But there was one; one that felt familiar, and he went to find her, just as he went to find Gildarts.

This girl wasn't abandoned; she was raised by two loving parents, and she was going to be a Celestial Mage.

 _Heartfilias_ are always Celestial Mages.

He had felt the mother's power, before, but he knew that this child would be much more powerful; just as Ivan's powers skipped over him to Laxus, the newborn girl held a majority of power in the family.

There was always a Celestial Mage when something was coming.

He gave it less than twenty years, now.

Acnologia turned around and disappeared back to Magnolia, before his heart hurt any more than it already did.


	4. Chapter Four - The Dreyars, Part One

***On the second night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **A death in the family...***

 **Yo. If you read Ripples you know I'm posting something for each night of Chanukah (cause I'm Jewish). They will all be Fairy Tail fics, or chapters here or in Ripples. And yeah, there will be another DoD chapter before the end of Chanukah.**

 **The blonde thing was referenced from 'Father' another papalogia au fic.**

 **And for those who asked; Chaos Magic counts as illusions, and a type of solidified magic (kinda like how Macao's fire is solid).**

 **P.S. Hope you Ripples fans are happy about the ending.**

* * *

 **Chapter Four – The Dreyars, Part One**

" _But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality."_

― _Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!_

* * *

Several years had passed, and Gildarts had turned into a womanizer.

Acnologia knew that this wasn't going to end well.

And it didn't.

"I'm getting married!" Gildarts crowed, clutching a petite woman tight to his chest.

"What'th that mean?" Laxus asked, standing near Gildarts's legs. At the age of four, he was almost speaking normally, with the exception of a slight lisp.

"Laxus, this is going to be your Aunt Cornelia!" Gildarts shouted with joy, tossing up the little boy.

Cornelia wasn't a mage. She didn't understand what being a mage is like.

Which is why she wouldn't understand why Gildarts didn't want to _stop_ being a mage.

Which is why she left him less than eight months later.

And Gildarts went back to drinking himself into oblivion.

* * *

When Laxus got older, his father pushed him harder and harder, and he wasn't the same bright kid he was before.

It was only when his father left his presence that Laxus would turn into the same curious brat.

Laxus turned to Acnologia, recently at the age of ten. "Uncle Acno?"

"What."

"I dare you to cut off of all your hair."

"No."

"Awwww."

Ivan appeared again, and Laxus lost his smile and stood up, rigidly. "Hi, Dad."

Ivan scowled at him. "Let's get going."

"Yes, Dad." Laxus's shoulders slumped and followed Ivan out the door, and Acnologia sighed.

If Gildarts was there, then Gildarts could probably find an excuse to spend the day with Laxus, but Gildarts was _Gildarts_. Technically, he was the kid's uncle.

And also, Acnologia wasn't exactly known for being a fluffy caregiver.

More like an ex-mass murderer.

And even the 'ex' part was still kinda in question.

He sighed and got up, approaching Makarov's office.

"I want to train your grandson," Acnologia said, pushing the door open.

"Good morning to you too, Makarov, how nice to see you," Makarov said sarcastically.

Acnologia rolled his eyes. "I'm serious, Makarov."

Makarov sighed and looked up from his paperwork. "Why do you want to train Laxus? You never want to train anyone. Not even Gildarts, and he and Ivan begged you for years."

"Yeah, there was never a chance in me training Ivan," Acnologia said bluntly, and he realized that by teaching Laxus, he could also spite Ivan a bit.

Which was good. He hated that man.

"So why do you want to train his _son_?" Makarov pressed.

Acnologia glared at the small man. "Makarov, your son is running him _into the ground_. Laxus is a _hatchling."_

"A what?" Makarov blinked.

"A tiny dra- er, a child that must be cared for!" Acnologia snapped, luckily catching himself in time before the full phrase 'a tiny dragon' slipped out.

But still...

So much for being a terrifying dragon.

He just knew that Makarov was _never_ going to let this go.

 _Ever_.

Sure enough, the old man began shaking uncontrollably.

"WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING?" Acnologia barked. "This is your grandson, here!"

Maybe it was funny to Makarov, but in dragon culture, hurting one's kin was even worse than stealing one's mate. Acnologia had gotten attached to the guild, and some of its members, and the younger they were, the more likely he was try and keep them safe. With Laxus's poor constitution, as well as his father's abuse, he ended up much higher on the list than others. It was more than Acnologia had cared about someone for awhile; as they only came along around once a century.

Come to think of it, they've all been blonde, too.

But even if he _didn't_ really care about Laxus, the alpha dragon always protects his kin and the members of his tribe.

Which would've put Laxus under his jurisdiction anyway.

Makarov had started to sober up, but Acnologia wasn't finished.

"If you don't do something soon, you might not even _have_ a grandson."

Makarov looked away. "I _know_ , Acnologia. Of _course_ , I know. Because if my grandson is being abused, that means my _son_ is being an abuser."

He looked up, and his eyes met Acnologia's. "So, excuse me, for wanting to make sure I know all of the facts."

"You _do_ know all of the facts," Acnologia said bluntly, but as gently as he could (which wasn't really that gently, but he was a four-hundred-year-old dragon ex-mass murderer, give him a break). "And by not doing anything, you're hurting Laxus more."

Makarov looked down, as tears started slipping from his eyes. "I understand."

* * *

That night, Laxus and Ivan didn't return to their home, where Makarov and Acnologia were waiting for over an hour to confront them. When the second hour mark passed, Acnologia snapped and began tracking their scent.

Makarov followed along, getting more and more anxious the farther they went into a neighboring forest of Magnolia.

"Acnologia, do you smell any other people?" he asked nervously.

"There are some faded scents, though I'm only catching wind of Ivan and Laxus currently. Why?"

Makarov's face darkened. "I believe this is dark guild territory."

Acnologia suddenly tensed as he heard a scream, before bolting in that direction, grabbing Makarov by the back of his coat so he could keep up.

"What was it?" Makarov asked, as he was pulled through the air by an extremely fast dragon slayer.

"I heard a scream," Acnologia said.

"Then _go_ ," Makarov said, "I'm just weighing you down!"

Acnologia didn't need any more prompting.

He dropped Makarov and charged through the woods at full speed (his dragon form would only get him caught up in the trees) and a darkened stone fortress (obviously the headquarters of a dark guild) came into view.

With one kick, the doors blew off and he stormed into the guild hall, batting aside every mage as they came at him and leaving a pile of unconscious wizards behind him.

He followed the screaming and the Dreyars' scents, until he reached the last room and kicked the door down.

The steel door came off with a bang, and Laxus's screams assaulted Acnologia's ears.

He froze as he recognized the feeling, and his eyes took in what was happening.

With one push, Acnologia shoved Ivan away from his son, causing the man to go flying into the wall and land on the floor, heaving. For once, Acnologia did not hold back his strength around a human.

He didn't want to.

Ivan's chest cavity was caved in from Acnologia's palm, and from the scent of blood and the coughing fit he was going through, Ivan likely only had a few minutes to live.

Acno didn't really care, though.

He directed his attention to Laxus, trying to hold down his shaking body.

Acnologia could already sense the lacrima inside of Laxus. It had already connected with his body, and if he was to try and take it out, Laxus would _absolutely_ die from shock; even as it was now, he barely had a chance of surviving through the shock of it getting put in. Because of his poor constitution, his body would be treating it as if it was one of his organs. His body had switched to gaining power from the lacrima, now, and wouldn't be able to function without it.

And that's if it could function at all.

Laxus was still convulsing, and across his right eye was an open wound, sparkling with electricity.

Acnologia ripped off his jacket and shoved it under Laxus's head, so he wouldn't bang the back of the metal table he was strapped to. There was already something in his mouth, something to undoubtedly stop him from swallowing his own tongue.

Acnologia didn't know much about medicine, but he knew that there wasn't much one could do for seizures. Whether or not the kid lived or died was up to him now.

Acno seized Ivan by the shirt and threw him against the wall, causing him to cough up more blood.

"Where the _hell_ did you get this lacrima?" he growled.

Ivan gave out a sick laugh, and Acnologia wondered how he never realized just how _twisted_ Makarov's kid was. He should've killed him years ago. Like immediately after he was born.

"The Council, of course."

"That's _bullshit_ ," Acno hissed. "I know all about the Council's hybrid dragon project. _Who do you think they consulted about it?_ And I also know that a series of Dragon Slayer Lacrimas were stolen recently, and that includes the _only Lightning_ one. There's a large possibility that Laxus won't survive this, and that's even _with_ using an element he's attuned to. Also, I can hear your heartbeat, dumbass. Why did you put it in him, and _where_ did you get it?"

Ivan smirked. "I told Laxus that it would heal his immune system."

"Why. Did. You. _Do_. It?" Acnologia hissed. While Ivan was telling the truth (if Laxus survived, the lacrima and dragon slaying powers _would_ boost his system) Ivan obviously had another goal here.

"If you _really_ must know, Laxus and I were going to take a little trip in a year or two across the border. You know, Alvarez would pay _good_ money for a Lightning Slayer Lacrima."

"You piece of shit," Acnologia said, letting Ivan go in horror. 'For the lacrima' he'd said; not the slayer. Which meant he was intending to take the lacrima out of Laxus to hand it over; a procedure that Laxus wouldn't survive. As long as the lacrima hadn't merged with the carrier's body, it'd generally be removable from a _normal_ person, but because of Laxus's weak system, his body was already transferring its control to the lacrima, even now. Removing it from this point onward would be a shock to his system, and he would die, and Acnologia knew for a fact that Ivan knew this. "How could you do that to your own _son_?"

"Oh, don't pretend you're not a monster," Ivan laughed.

"Oh, I never pretended anything otherwise," Acnologia hissed tightening his grip on Ivan again and pressing in on his chest. Acnologia could hear one of Ivan's ribs pierce his lung, and he smiled down at the man sadistically. "But there are some lines _I would never cross_. Fairy Tail, despite being run by a bunch of humans, actually has a pretty good concept of how dragon society works. _You always fight for your family_. ALWAYS. Whether by blood or by choice. And I? Oh, I might be a monster, but I would never harm my child. I might be a monster, _but I have nothing on you_."

The banging on the table died down, and Acnologia dropped Ivan again and returned to see Laxus's convulsing die down. Ivan collapsed on the floor and began to drag himself away, but Acnologia didn't care.

He wouldn't get far.

"Laxus, can you hear me?" he asked, pulling out the tab in Laxus's mouth. "Are you alright?"

Laxus opened his eyes, and Acnologia's eyes were once again brought to the striking scar across the right side of his face. "Uncle Acno?"

"Yeah?" Acnologia asked urgently.

Laxus blinked up at him. "Are you okay?"

"What? Why?"

"Well, you sound worried about me," Laxus pointed out.

Acnologia growled (despite how he acted, he still _cared_ , dammit!), and to both of their surprises, Laxus growled back.

"What was that?" he squeaked in shock, and more than a little bit of horror.

"I'll explain later," Acnologia said, rolling his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"…It…it hurt a lot. But now I don't think I've ever felt better," Laxus said quietly. He brightened. "Dad was right! It worked…I'm healthy now!"

Acnologia felt slightly sick, the same way he did every time he saw a boat. "Laxus, your father lied to you, he didn't put it in for your own health. He didn't put it in for _you_ at all."

"But…I'm so much better…" Laxus trailed off.

"Laxus," Ivan gasped, crawling on the floor. "He's a monster! He's lying, look what he's done to me! It's too late for me, but you can still make it. Run!"

Laxus was still strapped to the table, but his eyes widened in horror as he caught sight of his father propping himself up against the wall, clutching his chest and staining the wall and floor with blood.

He looked back between the two of them, unsure, and Acnologia felt happy that Laxus didn't immediately take his father's side.

That was more trust than most held for him, and it was more than he expected.

Some would say it was more than he deserved.

"Laxus! I'm your _father_!" Ivan shouted, outraged. "You'd really choose _him_ over _me_?"

Shit. Only now was Acnologia realizing how bad this looked. It'd be even worse when Makarov showed up. He'd tried so _hard_ to repress the murderous urges when it came to Ivan, but it seems like it didn't matter in the end.

He would probably have to disappear to the island after this.

Though considering what he let slip earlier, maybe it'd be better to do that anyway.

Once again, Acnologia wished Gildarts was in town.

It would have made this several times easier.

* * *

Laxus was in between a rock and a hard place.

He didn't know who to choose.

His father, who was _his father_. Had raised him, and helped him by giving him the lacrima. Making him stronger? But also pushing him so hard he thought he'd break.

Or Uncle Acno…who he felt an odd sort of kinship too, who had never let him down, who was nicer to him than he was to anyone else, who indulged him despite supposedly being four-hundred-years old and a _dragon_.

The choice was made for him.

* * *

"That's enough, Ivan," a voice hissed.

The two Dreyars stiffened and looked towards the doorway, where a tiny man stood while giving off immense power. Acnologia had stiffened the moment he smelled Makarov, but he spun around in shock when he heard Makarov finally speak.

"Father!" Ivan cried, shocked. "Help me!"

"No," Makarov said plainly, as he walked into the room. "I am… _ashamed_ to call you my _son_." He spit out the last word as he glared down at the man.

"How did you know?" Acnologia asked, feeling (and quenching) the urge to turn into a dragon and fly around for a few hours. Maybe do a few backflips, too.

"I activated the communication lacrima I gave you few years back," Makarov said. "And I used that so I could monitor what was going on as I caught up."

Acnologia was glad that he carried the stupid thing on him, even though it was mostly for indulging Makarov.

Maybe he should go through the rest of the junk he was given?

Makarov turned to look back at his son as Acnologia ripped off the leather straps holding down Laxus. "I heard _everything_ , Ivan. Now tell me. Who did you get the lacrima from?"

Ivan began to laugh. "Guess the jig is up, then! I'll let you know something, Father, I've always _hated_ you. And tell Gildarts that I always hated him, too. And _you_ ," his eyes landed on Laxus, who stood next to Acnologia, looking at his father in shock. " _YOU! I've always hated you, so much more than the rest._ So _weak_! I couldn't understand how you were my son. I'm honestly surprised you survived the lacrima implantation!"

" _Where did you get it, Ivan_?!" Makarov shouted, shaking him.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough!" Ivan hissed, before activating his magic.

Acnologia got a shield up in time, but it didn't matter. Ivan wasn't aiming for any of them.

The shikigami sliced across his throat, and Ivan Dreyar died with a smile on his face.


	5. Chapter Five - The Dreyars, Part Two

***On the seventh night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **A new member of the family!***

* * *

 **Chapter Five – The Dreyars, Part Two**

 _"Never accept help from a dragon. Dragons do not offer help. They offer fate."  
― Steven Poore, The High King's Vengeance_

* * *

Gildarts returned from a simple job to a series of complicated things; his brother dead, his nephew healthy, and his best friend _alive_.

It was admittedly a lot to take in.

Gildarts had thrown up when he had gotten the whole story; that Ivan was going to implant a lacrima in Laxus in order to smuggle it across the border, which would end up in Laxus's eventual death via lacrima removal; that Ivan killed himself in front of all of them, after directly telling his son and his father that he hated them, along with Gildarts; and that afterwards they had found Mari alive and in chains, as Ivan's prisoner for almost _ten_ years.

Laxus, admittedly, also wasn't doing the greatest. His father had betrayed him and the mother he could barely remember had returned from the dead.

To distract him, Acnologia started teaching him slaying techniques, and they would spend time running around and destroying Fiore's forests. It was a good way for Laxus to take out his stress, and if Laxus spent half his time crying, Acnologia pretended not to notice.

* * *

"Why are you bothering to train me?" Laxus asked one day. They had finished training and were sitting near the edge of a cliff, appreciating the sunset.

"Why do you think?" Acnologia asked.

"It's only because I'm a slayer, too, right?"

"You are incorrect."

Laxus looked up at him. "What?"

"The day that the lacrima was implanted in you, I was going to ask Makarov if I could train you."

"Why?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia paused. "The day you wore born, I held you in my arms, and I sensed a load of untapped potential. In addition to that, I disliked the way your father treated you, and I was drawn to you in a sense. I realize now that it was fate."

"Fate?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia nodded. "You were destined to become a dragon slayer, one way or another. Destiny has been quite active over the last several decades, preparing for something; it has given birth to a generation of new wizards. From what Ivan said, and from what can be guessed from the activity level of destiny, it is likely that you will not be the only Dragon Slayer in the upcoming years."

Laxus nodded. "Still…I'm not exactly an impressive wizard."

Acnologia snorted. " _Yet._ Please try to remember who is training you."

Laxus blushed, and nodded, before bringing up another question. "Hey, Uncle Acno? Was my dad…was he always like that?"

"Yes. Some people are born like that, brat."

"Does…er…will I be like that?"

"No," Acnologia answered.

"How do you know?" Laxus asked.

"Because you care about your family, you've shed tears, and you're asking that question," Acnologia responded. "And I didn't want to chuck you into the ocean when you were born."

Laxus laughed. "You wanted to throw him into the ocean?"

"I hate the ocean," Acnologia murmured. "He deserved to get chucked in there."

"And…what do you mean by 'you've shed tears'?" Laxus asked.

"You've cried over what happened with your father, and that proves that you're human."

Laxus looked down. "It doesn't prove that I'm a baby?"

"No. It proves that you care."

Laxus was quiet, and Acnologia sighed. "If you tell anyone, I'll tear your limbs off, but I've shed my share of tears, too."

" _Really_?" Laxus asked, his eyes wide.

"You do realize I'm over four-hundred-years old?" Acnologia said softly. "Over forty times your age. I _was_ a child once. I've experienced my fair share of things."

"Like what?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia sighed. "As a dragon slayer, you'll gain many draconic traits. Such as the growling, as you've already experienced. As you eat more lightning, practice more magic, and your lacrima begins to merge with your body, you'll notice yourself getting more and more draconic."

Laxus nodded. "Okay, so…"

Acnologia smacked him. "Be patient, brat, I'm getting there."

Laxus sulked.

"Anyway, you'll eventually get a mate. It's a mix of both personal choice, and destiny. You can choose to evade the one that destiny has picked for you, but it is likely that you will both end up miserable."

"I don't get 'Destiny', and 'Fate'," Laxus grumbled. "Aren't we supposed to have free will, and stuff?"

"You're only destined to do the things you'd already do," Acnologia said softly, looking at the sky. The sun had almost set, and the stars would be out soon. "If you go against destiny, you're going against yourself, your own gut feeling, and the things that make yourself comfortable. You should _never_ do that. I learned that the hard way. Destiny is as if someone time traveled to the past from the future and wrote out what already happened. You were always meant to do that, because it's your _own_ choices, so to change your mind from what you're meant to do is the same as going against yourself."

He looked down as the sun vanished, and the stars started coming out. "I lost my mate, and to this day, it has still scarred me. Even now, almost four hundred years later, everything reminds me of her."

" _Everything_?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia nodded. "She loved nature," they looked around them, outside, "…and was a Celestial Spirit Mage…" Laxus followed his gaze towards the constellations in the sky. "She was blonde, the same shade as your hair. I was friends with her since before she was your age. She had Makarov's stubbornness, Mari's kindness, and Gildarts's wandering mind and adventurist taste."

Laxus stared at him. "You really see her _everywhere_ …"

There was silence, and Laxus looked down. "Did she die because she was human?"

"No," Acnologia said, scowling. "She died because she's a stubborn idiot, and because Zeref is a pain in my ass."

"I'm sorry," Laxus said quietly.

"You're a good kid," Acnologia responded.

"You're being nice again," the ten-year-old said.

Acnologia laughed, a dry bark, and got up. "Come on, Laxus. We should rest before it is time to return. You have enough basic control to function in a city, and your family needs you now."

"What do you mean by 'function in a city'?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia sighed. "As a dragon slayer, you will be highly volatile and extremely powerful. You currently don't know much about your powers, and you'd be more of a menace than Gildarts to Magnolia if you had no training."

"Oh," Laxus said quietly, before brightening. "But…I can get strong?"

"You already are strong," Acnologia said. "But yes, you will get stronger."

"Will I ever beat you?"

"No."

"Awwww…"

* * *

That night, they rested near the edge of the forest and the city, and returned to the guild the following day.

A small girl had arrived at the guild while they were gone, and Acnologia knew that destiny was picking up the pace - everything was going to get worse, soon.

As Acnologia and Laxus approached, they watched as the girl (who had yet to notice them) turn away from Gildarts and Mari's embrace, squeezing her hands together in front of her heart.

"Why does she smell familiar?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia sighed. "Because she is."

Acnologia would've recognized her from the biological smell _alone,_ but he could also sense the latent magical power inside of her, reminiscent of Gildarts's magic. It was a different form, but just like Laxus, she would grow extremely strong.

In fact, doing the math, he had even sensed her birth in particular a few years back.

"Come on, kid," he said to her, as Laxus and he approached.

She jumped. "Uh…."

"Acnologia," Acno introduced himself.

"Aclogia?" the girl repeated. She was five, and he didn't exactly have the easiest name to pronounce.

"Just call him Acno," Laxus said. "I'm Laxus. Who are you?"

"I'm…Cana…" she said quietly. "Is…is that Gildarts?"

She pointed at him, where he sat with Mari on his lap as he tightened his arms around her. It seemed like he hadn't even let go of her since they left, too scared she'd disappear again.

Laxus nodded. "Yeah. You wanna meet him?"

"Uh…." Cana protested.

"I _said_ , 'c'mon'; I refuse to stand around such idiotic tension," Acnologia said, throwing Cana over his shoulder and walking into the guild.

She let out a high-pitched squeal, and Acnologia ignored it. "Dreyars, upstairs now!" he barked.

Gildarts and Mari looked up, and Makarov turned away from his beer to notice Laxus, Acnologia, and the small girl heading upstairs.

Surprisingly, no one really protested the fact that the dragon waltzed in with a small girl over his shoulder, and it nearly brought a smile on his face from the trust he received from his guild members.

Either that or his reputation had taken a huge hit.

"Where…where are you taking me?" Cana asked, scared.

"Don't worry, Cana," Laxus said quietly. "Acno's a big softie, he won't hurt you."

"I will rip out your intestines if you _ever_ say that again," Acnologia growled.

"He doesn't _seem_ like a softie," Cana pointed out.

"Yeah, because he has a reputation to uphold," Laxus said.

Acnologia grabbed the back of Laxus's shirt and heaved him over the railing of the second floor.

He fell on a table, breaking up Macao and Wakaba's poker game, and they jumped up in shock.

"Acnologia!" Makarov shouted.

"He'll be fine," Acnologia said, waving it off. "He'll join us soon enough."

Turning, he continued down the hall to Makarov's office.

"I will admit, Cara, I'm fonder of children than regular people," Acnologia said in a gruff voice. "But I do have a reputation as a psychopath and mass-murderer, so I can't have anyone seeing me be nice. Which Laxus knows, which is why I threw him over the ledge."

"Will…will he really be fine?" Cana asked. "And, my name is Cana."

"Yes," Acnologia answered. "He's very durable. Your father would be the only one to end up in a better condition, actually."

Cana tensed. "What do you know about that?"

"Let me introduce myself again," Acnologia said, opening the door to the office and squatting after plopping Cana on the couch. "I am Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. I am a Dragon Slayer and I can switch back and forth between a dragon form and a human form. I am four-hundred-years old, and have known Gildarts since he was born. I have an excellent sense of smell, and was able to sniff out the biological match between you and your father."

Cana stared at him. "You're a _dragon_?"

He sighed. Maybe he had put too much in that explanation. She _was_ only five.

"I can smell that you're related," he said slowly.

"You're a _dragon_?" she repeated, in awe.

At that moment, the door burst open, and Makarov, Gildarts, and Mari entered.

"I can't believe you threw Laxus over the railing," Makarov grumbled.

"He'll be fine," Acnologia muttered, standing up and crossing his arms

"He _also_ broke a table!" Makarov complained.

"Hey, I'm sure he had it coming," Gildarts said, laughing.

"I heard that," Laxus scowled from the doorway, entering the room and slamming it shut behind him. "What's this about, Uncle Acno?"

"Yeah, Uncle Acno," Gildarts repeated, snorting and crossing his arms. "Way to make a dramatic entrance."

Acnologia rolled his eyes. "You're officially too old to call me that, Gildarts."

"What? Why!" Gildarts protested.

"Because you have a kid, dumbass," Acnologia said, gesturing to Cana. "This is Cala. She's Cornelia's daughter, I can smell it."

" _Cana_ ," Cana muttered.

"C-Cornelia?" Mari asked quietly.

"Around five years after your supposed death, I married a woman named Cornelia," Gildarts said quietly, still in shock and staring at Cana. "She left when she said I was too attached to my work. I had no idea she was pregnant."

He walked away from Mari and knelt down in front of Cana. "Cana, right?" At her nod, he continued. "Did something happen? Cornelia didn't even tell me about you, and now you're suddenly here."

Cana began to cry. "Mom…Momma died. She left a note and told me who my Daddy was, so I came here."

Gildarts embraced her, and she cried in his arms. "It's alright, Cana. Daddy's here. You can move into my house later today, alright?"

"I HAVE A GRANDDAUGHTER!" Makarov shouted, twirling around and scooping Cana out of Gildarts's embrace. "Oh, blessed day! And she's adorable!"

"I suggest you start searching through holder magics," Acnologia said, getting ready to leave.

"Why, Unc- er, Acno?" Gildarts asked.

"She's definitely going to be a main holder mage. You should get her to start practicing magic soon."

"More destiny crap?" Laxus asked.

Acnologia nodded. "I'm going to go to my cave. I've been around civilization too long. See you all in a month."

He walked out of the room and Cana turned to Gildarts. "Acno said he was a dragon. Is that true?"

"You know, I've never actually seen his dragon form," Laxus commented. "It was already pretty accepted, so I guess I just grew up knowing about it and never questioning it."

"Yes," Gildarts answered. "I've seen his dragon form. It's very large, probably around thirty feet long and twenty feet tall. It's a black color, with his tribal markings across his body."

"You mean the blue swirls?" Cana asked.

Gildarts nodded.

Laxus honestly didn't know what was going to happen now.

He knew that his uncle and his mother were a couple, in the past, and now his uncle had a daughter, but if Gildarts and Mari were getting back together, did that make Cana his sister instead of his cousin? Would he start calling his uncle 'Dad'?

Laxus sighed and settled on the couch. He was sure he'd find out soon enough.

* * *

 **Next chapter should be out Christmas...morning? After I wake up, so 12 - 2 pm, probably.**

 **Sorry.**


	6. Chapter Six - Deliora

**Merry Christmas, guys! (A review gift would be appreciated, :D)**

 **Sorry this is so short.**

* * *

 **Chapter Six - Deliora**

" _Have you ever met a dragon that couldn't talk?"_ _  
_ _―_ _Deborah Blake_ _,_ _Wickedly Wonderful_

* * *

Cana found her calling in Card Magic, and Laxus became more and more skilled as time went on.

Two years passed, and Cana was seven and Laxus was twelve (to be thirteen in November) when something else came up.

It was in the summer of X774, and there was a demon on the loose.

"Say that again," Acnologia hissed, standing up.

"There is a demon from the Books of Zeref rampaging through Seven," Makarov repeated.

" _And_?" Acnologia hissed, slamming his fist down and breaking the table underneath it. "I need more information than that."

"I believe it's called Deliora," Makarov said quietly. "And so far it's destroyed a total of seven cities, as of the time they sent the message. Which was several weeks ago."

Acno's face grew darker, and he spun around the guild. "Gildarts! Laxus! We're going on a job."

"I wanna go, too!" Cana shouted, jumping up.

Acnologia studied her. While she was strong, especially for her age, they were going against _Deliora_. If it was a dark guild, he wouldn't hesitate to invite her, but in this situation… "No. Sorry. Maybe we'll do something different when we come back."

He _had_ to stop spending so much time with children. It was making him look less intimidating.

Acnologia turned to look at Laxus and Gildarts. "Are you ready? I doubt I'll need backup, but it's good to have some."

"Why would _you_ need backup?" Gildarts asked, confused.

"We're going up against a demon from the Books of Zeref," Acnologia hissed. "A lesser demon, but still. Outside, now."

They three of them headed outside, and were followed by the rest of the guild, including Cana who was watching them upsettably.

"Calm down, Cana," Mari said, watching over the small girl. "All will be fine. We'll see them soon."

Acnologia moved over to the beach, a place where he could transform and not break anything.

He closed his eyes and shifted, and he heard gasps as the people in the guild who had never seen him took in his appearance.

" **Laxus, Gildarts, climb on. This is the fastest way**."

"He can talk!" Cana cried.

Gildarts nodded. "Yeah, we'll be back soon."

"Bye, Cana, Mom, Jiji!" Laxus called.

The climbed onto Acnologia's back, grasping onto the edges of his tiled head, and waved at Cana and Mari, who both waved back.

Acnologia let out a roar and took to the sky.

* * *

"Acno, you should have let me do this _years_ ago!" Gildarts yelled at the dragon. Laxus was too busy screaming in delight to do anything else.

" **I don't like riders. I feel the urge to shake them off. You're going to need to constantly talk to me in order to remind me that you're not bugs.** "

"Gee, thanks for the love!" Gildarts yelled.

" **I spent around three hundred years straight as a dragon, cut me some slack. During that time, the only creatures on my back were things I didn't want there.** "

"Alright, I get it!" Gildarts yelled. "Now will you tell us about the mission?"

" **As soon as the brat stops screaming**."

"SORRY, BUT THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOO FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Laxus screamed.

Acnologia sighed, and the gust of wind that came from his mouth hit some curious birds that flew a bit too close, knocking them off of their course.

"Are you done now?" Gildarts asked his nephew. "Get it all out of your system?"

"YEAH, I SHOULD BE GOOD NOW!"

" **Good."** Acnologia growled. **"One of Zeref's demons is active. We're going to take him out.** "

"How did it get active?" Gildarts asked. "And do you know which one?"

" **It's Del-** "

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Laxus screamed, as Acno swerved to the side to avoid a suspicious flying machine.

" **Laxus!** " Acnologia roared.

"SORRY, I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF. WHAT WERE YOU SAYING?"

Acnologia sighed again, and picked up the pace. " **We're going to the country of Seven. A demon from the Books of Zeref is running amok there, and we're going to take him out.** "

"And you know which one?" Gildarts shouted.

" **Yes, it's Deliora, the Demon of Destruction**."

"Why the hell is Laxus here, then?" Gildarts demanded, ignoring Laxus's "HEY!" "I thought you said it was a _lesser demon_."

" **It is. Deliora is not one of the most powerful; he is not one of the so-called 'Demon Gates'. And he's here for experience. With both of us there, he will be fine. And with what will possibly arrive within the next several decades, he should be prepared against the types of monsters we may have to face.** "

Gildarts couldn't really deny that, but he didn't want his nephew in such a dangerous situation.

"WHERE DID IT COME FROM?" Laxus shouted. "AND DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT STARTED?"

" **While I'm not exactly sure where it came from, I have several suspicions, and I believe that he first appeared back in March, around three months ago. According to Makarov, however, the news did not reach Fiore until now.** "

"I dunno, I'm calling bullshit on the Magic Council for this one," Gildarts said. "They just don't want to take responsibility."

Acnologia snorted, which was a very odd feeling for his passengers. " **They have never wanted to take responsibility. Now hold on tight, something is brewing."**

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Laxus screamed.

The dragon veered to the side, before diving directly at the ground and pinning something even larger than him down.

"WHAT. THE. HELL. IS. THAT?" Laxus shouted.

"Laxus! Watch your fucking language!" Gildarts chided, grabbing Laxus and jumping off of Acnologia, who was busy wrestling with an extremely large monster.

"W….what's going on?" a young voice said.

The two of them turned to see three people; a woman, and two small boys, one propping up the other.

"We're taking down this demon, just stay out of the way," Gildarts said.

"You don't know what you're up against!" the black-haired boy protested, but Gildarts raised a hand and cut him off.

" _I'm_ not going up against anything. Or did you miss the giant-ass dragon?" he threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Acnologia's tussle with Deliora.

There was a loud roar, and the five of them all turned to watch the fight.

"Acno, do you need any help?" Gildarts yelled.

" **Fuck off, brat! And get out of the damn way!** "

"It…talks…" the white-haired kid stammered.

"Everyone back up," Gildarts commanded.

Everyone exchanged looks until he was practically shoving them back. "You should be good, Acno!"

"Why should he be good?" the black-haired kid asked.

"He's going to transform," Gildarts explained. "Right now, as a dragon, he's too bulky for this fight. It'd be one thing if his dragon form was bigger, but right now Deliora is. So, he's going to go for speed."

The large black dragon hopped off of the demon, transforming and shrinking into a man.

"He…he's human?" the white-haired kid stammered.

"Acno is a dragon slayer," Laxus explained. "Eventually, he ended up mutating into a dragon. Or at least, that's what he says."

The man stood still, and stared down the demon, which stared back at him. Acnologia raised his left arm to his upper right arm, and unclipped a bracelet he had on there. The explosion of magical pressure slammed all five of them into the ground. While Ur and Gildarts were on their knees, even they could not stand up straight.

"Of course, he wore a magical inhibitor so he could spend time as a human," Gildarts muttered, trying to stand up, or at least stay on his knees and not slam flat.

The kids were mostly struggling to raise their heads because they wanted to watch.

Acnologia put on a burst of speed, bouncing around each side of the demon and landing powerful hits on it, that made Deliora screech in pain and flail around, trying to swat the dragon slayer.

He moved around, taking out both of Deliora's knees, slamming a boatload of energy into his spine, and releasing a roar that cut a hole straight through its heart.

Everything seemed to freeze, and then time started again; Deliora collapsed, and Acnologia returned to the ground, joining them. He clasped his bracelet around his upper right arm again, and the magical pressure died down to a reasonable level, allowing all of them to breathe easily again.

And stand.

Acnologia blinked at the three he didn't recognize. "Who the fuck are you?"

"No wonder Laxus's mouth is getting worse," Gildarts muttered, helping up his nephew. "I should have fucking known."

"You're a dragon…" the black-haired one murmured, still on the ground.

The white-haired kid who had just gotten up darted forward, poking Acnologia in the leg and hopping backwards to huddle near the other kid, falling back on the ground beside him. "He's _real…_ "

Acnologia leaned down to look at them, and gave them a feral smile. "Yes, I'm a dragon, I am real, and I _will_ tear off your arms and beat you with them unless you stop being a _pest."_

Both boys froze, silent, and Acnologia nodded, satisfied.

He turned around to look at the woman. "Now…who are you?"

"My name is Ur…Ur Milkovich…" she said, quietly. "I am an Ice-Make Mage. This is Gray Fullbuster, and Lyon Vastia. They're my pupils. Gray lost his family to Deliora and decided to take him on himself-" the kid looked down in shame, "and we followed to help protect him. Thank you for taking out that demon. If you hadn't, I would've had to use _Iced Shell_ in order to rid the world of that monster."

Acnologia looked at her for a long, hard time. This woman would be a good addition to the guild. In fact… "Were you nominated for a position as a Ten Wizard Saint?"

"Yes, but I turned it down."

He grunted. "Should've taken it. Porla doesn't deserve the title."

"So, what do we do now?" Lyon whispered, and for the first time, Acnologia didn't glare at him.

"I suggest you move," he said, turning and starting to walk away to an empty space where he could transform. "Start a new chapter of your life. If this demon has haunted your past, it's best to start over."

He transformed back into a dragon. All three of those wizards were ones whose birth he had sensed. " **No matter your choice, we will meet again.** "

Laxus and Gildarts climbed onto Acnologia, and he took off into the sky, flying off into the horizon.

* * *

Over the next two years, only a few things happened of note. Sure, some couples in the guild got together, but Acnologia didn't really care or pay attention to that.

In early of X775, three Ice Wizards silently joined the guild, with naught but a nod at the dragon. At the end of that year, Laxus Dreyar became an S Class Mage, at the age of fifteen (the youngest in the guild to have ever achieved that rank). At the beginning of X776, Laxus picked up three strays, and began to make a name for himself and the Raijinshu. Halfway through, a girl that read books bigger than her and her two little tag-a-longs joined. And at the end of X776, a girl with hair as red as her name nearly completed the set.

It was in X777 that destiny awoke.


	7. Chapter Seven - The Second Slayer

**So, unfortunately, I realized that the next chapter of Ripples wouldn't make it up today (it's gonna be Gajeel and Natsu and they're...being difficult, grrrrr) so I thought; _hey, most of my readers probably want to know I'm alive and I also nearly have a chapter of Dreams of Dragons finished, so why not wrap up that._**

 **So I did.**

 **And no...the slayers have not arrived here either.**

 **Also...if you read Ripples...you will notice some similarities...**

 **THIS IS BECAUSE I FIND IT EASIER TO WRITE MY STORIES IF I ONLY HAVE TO KEEP TRACK OF _ONE_ SET OF HEADCANONS.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven - The Second Slayer**

" _There wasn't a colloquial phrase, or curse, that went something like, "May your day be full of angry dragons" or, "May every dragon you meet today be pissed off." But, there should have been."_

― _Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Ruin_

* * *

Most would have called it a coincidence, but Acnologia knew better.

Fate was at work again.

It was early March of X777, and the bored dragon was walking through the woods surrounding Magnolia again, a relaxing process he'd been doing more often as he got roped more and more into the guild's (particularly the Dreyar's) shenanigans.

Most would have missed it, but Acnologia was too old and too powerful for it to go under the radar. In addition to that, he was a dragon slayer; he could practically smell the magic in the air.

While powerful, Gildarts and Makarov would have missed the feeling, and Laxus wasn't in tune enough with his dragon side to sense it.

But _someone_ was trying to keep something hidden.

He followed the scent through the forest, finally coming to a stop at a force field and what looked like the entrance to an underground bunker.

The barrier was what he was smelling, and it would've been able to hide all the magic in the area from anyone _other_ than Acnologia.

Except maybe Zeref.

But _fuck_ Zeref.

Except not...you know...like...

 _Damn_ that wizard.

And Mavis. And...Mavis.

Acnologia moved closer, wary of the barrier. It wouldn't hurt him – it seemed to only be for protective measures – but it was likely that a security system would've been woven into the spell.

Acnologia froze as a smell permeated his senses.

It was a familiar scent, though he had only smelled it once before.

The place Ivan was in when he implanted Laxus with a lacrima _reeked_ of it.

Without giving it a second thought, he broke down the barrier and stormed to the entrance, breaking into the building with a _Chaos Dragon's Iron Fist_.

"Who the hell are-" the man couldn't even finish his sentence before he was flying across the room.

He followed the scent and feel of power, kicking down door after door as he continued through the building.

The people around him fled and he paid them no mind as he hurried, searching for the source.

Another kick revealed the culprit; a boy strapped down to a table and convulsing.

Acno was right. It was another lacrima.

The boy's body arched, and a puff of purple smoke erupted from his mouth.

Acnologia's eyebrows raised. He didn't even know that the council _had_ a Poison Dragon Slayer lacrima, but he would have advised them that it was unsafe; most _normally_ trained Poison Dragon Slayers died soon after trying to learn the magic.

He noticed a small snake wrapped around part of the boy.

Acnologia sighed. "I wish I knew whether or not you were venomous."

To his surprise, the snake lifted its head and bobbed it up and down, as if it was nodding.

Acnologia's eyes widened. "You can understand me?"

Another nod.

"Then I need you to bite him."

The snake hissed at him, and Acno nearly slammed his hand to his forehead.

"Look, I get that he's your friend, but he's dying right now because of the lacrima they put in him. If you inject some of your venom, it should blend with the lacrima's poison and settle his system, alright?"

The snake looked wary, but finally turned and struck the boy at the wrist, her fangs sinking into his skin.

Acnologia was glad that the snake had listened. While he wouldn't die from the poison the kid was emitting, it would be very painful for him, and he definitely didn't want to wrestle with a snake and forcefully inject venom into the boy at the same time.

And geez, he was part of a _wizard's guild_ and he baby sat _children_ and he just _talked to a snake_.

 _The Great Acnologia, Black Dragon of the Apocalypse_ , he though sourly.

The boy's body arched one last time, before settling down once more, breathing easily.

Safe to approach now that he was no longer releasing any toxic gas, Acnologia approached the kid and took out the tab in his mouth.

The child opened his eyes.

"Who are you?" the kid croaked.

"Do you know what was put in you?" Acnologia asked.

"A…dragon slayer lacrima?" the boy questioned.

Acnologia nodded. "I am a dragon slayer, and I'm getting you out of this place."

With one swipe, the leather straps holding the boy down were torn to shreds, and Acnologia lifted the boy and started carrying him out. The snake curled up around the boy's arm as they walked down the hall.

If one _was_ going to implant a lacrima, it was best done between the ages of around 12 – 17. Luckily, this kid seemed to be in the right age range, which is another thing that helped him survive the implantation. (Laxus had been too young, which was another factor in his almost-death).

"Where are the others?" the kid's voice whispered.

"Others?" Acnologia questioned.

"Yeah…Macbeth, Sorano, Richard, Sawyer and Orga?"

Acnologia frowned. What was it with dark guilds and experimenting on children?

"Do you remember where they were before you went into the surgery?" Acnologia asked.

Erik nodded and lifted a shaky hand, pointing him along the way. Eventually they reached a wing, which, (after Acnologia kicked down the door) they discovered was empty.

"Where did they go?" the kid whispered.

"Did you remember anything happening while they put in the lacrima?" Acno asked.

"As they were sealing up the wound, I think Brain said something along the lines of 'intruder' and 'lost cause'. So, they left before they finished the second row of stitches."

Acnologia shifted him and took a look at the cut. "You should be okay until I can get you to the old hag. She'll be able to help."

That would've explained why no one was there anymore, and why, the further he got into the base, the more it got deserted.

"I'm going to take you back to my guild," Acnologia grunted. "You don't have to join if you don't want to, but I'm gonna have to train you. You're too dangerous without any training, _especially_ because your element is poison. You were already going to be dangerous enough, as a dragon slayer, but this takes it to another level."

"I…I don't think I'd mind joining a guild," the kid said softly. "But will you promise to help me find the others?"

"I'm not promising," Acnologia said. "Too much time with a Celestial Mage has made me promise myself to _never_ make a promise that can't be kept. But I will do it to the best of my ability, and I'm positive my guild will help too."

The kid was silent, and as they exited the building, he finally spoke up. "Who are you?"

"My name is Acnologia," Acno said. "And I'm a member of Fairy Tail."

And to be honest…maybe he was okay with who he had become.

But once again; no one had to know that.

He spun around, once they were safely out of the building, and took one more whiff. "The building is empty. I'm gonna destroy it."

" _Chaos Dragon's Roar_!" he bellowed, taking out not only the building but a large part of the forest, too.

After all…as a member Fairy Tail, he still got destroy stuff.

"Woah," the kid said in awe. "Will I be able to do that?"

"Not to the extent, but you'll be able to cause a metric-fuck-ton of damage," Acnologia said, and he turned and headed back to Magnolia. "Who are you, kid? And how old are you?"

"I'm Erik, and I'm fourteen," the kid said. He didn't _look_ fourteen, maybe twelve or thirteen at most. Probably only four or five inches on Erza. "I'll be fifteen in a few months, though. And this is Cubellios. She's my best friend."

"That's a hell of an intelligent snake you've got there, kid," Acnologia said. _In fact, there might be a chance that she's not one._

Something was a bit off about her, and he'd bring it up with Makarov eventually.

They continued in the forest for a while until they arrived at Porlyusica's hut.

"WHAT?" she barked as he knocked on the door, and Acnologia rolled his eyes. "I've got another kid like your grandson; they left before they finished stitching up the wound. Can you finish it up?"

She scowled but gestured over to the bed.

"What did you mean by that?" Erik asked, as Acnologia put him down.

"My grandson is a boy named Laxus Dreyar," Porlyusica said. "He's only a few years older than you. Around five years ago, his father inserted a Dragon Slaying Lacrima inside of him, just like you."

"Will I get to meet him?" Erik asked softly.

Acnologia nodded. "He'll probably join us for training."

"You did a good job," Porlyusica said, smearing something over Erik's wound and going over it with stronger stitches. "Thank you for carrying him. Walking would have made it worse."

"I knew that."

"No, you didn't, brat."

"I'm almost seven times your age, woman."

She harrumphed.

"What do you mean?" Erik asked.

"This _brat_ here is a four-hundred-year old dragon," Porlyusica answered.

"I thought you were a slayer?" Erik asked, looking slightly betrayed.

"I am," Acnologia grunted. "I ended up becoming a dragon through a type of mutation."

He didn't want to have to tell the boys that they'd eventually turn into dragons, too, but he could do that in the future.

When they were old enough to handle it.

* * *

Eventually, Erik got a clean bill of health and ended up going with Acno to his cave.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"This is where I live," Acnologia grunted. Seeing the horrified look on Erik's face, he barked out a laugh. "Don't worry, you'll only be living with me until you get your poison under control. Then, if you join Fairy Tail, you can live in the dorms, or you could move in with the Dreyars. On second thought, you should _probably_ move in with them."

Erik gave an unsure nod, and Acnologia rolled his eyes. "You'll be fine. Now stand back, it'll be more comfortable for you to sleep on me than on the floor."

"Wait, what?"

Acnologia was already shifting, and then, in front of Erik stood a large, black dragon with blue swirls running across his body.

"Holy shit," he breathed, his eyes wide.

Acnologia laid on the ground, his head in his arms. " **Yeah, yeah, just come here if you want to stay warm and comfortable. Slayers and Dragons tend to give off a lot of body heat.** "

"Aren't dragons reptiles? Shouldn't you be cold blooded?"

" **Platypi are mammals, and they lay eggs. There are exceptions to every rule. Stop complaining and get up here, brat.** "

Erik did as told, and as he curled up on top of Acnologia's dragon form, he realized something. Despite all of the pain he had been in earlier, and the disappearance of his friends, he thought that today had been a pretty good day.

He was joining a guild, he was away from Brain, and he was falling asleep atop of a dragon.

* * *

"You ready?"

"No," Erik muttered.

"Too bad, we're going in anyway."

"Wait, Acno!"

Too late. Acnologia burst open the doors and strode in, and Erik had no choice but to follow, or otherwise stand there looking like an idiot.

"Hey, Uncle Acno. Erik," Laxus said, smiling at them.

Laxus had joined them for training, and Erik was impressed with his strength. He was only sixteen, and not much older than Erik, but he was also an S-Class Mage, and Erik hoped to be as strong as Laxus one day.

"Hey, Laxus," he said quietly.

"Ah, so this is the famous Erik!" came a voice. Erik turned his head and saw a small man standing on a table. "I'm Master Makarov! It's nice to finally meet you. Where do you want your guildmark?"

"My right shoulder," Erik said. "Electric Blue."

Makarov stamped him, and Erik officially joined the guild.

"Come on, I'll introduce you," Laxus said, and Erik followed him as Acnologia leaned back against the bar and watched them.

"Hey, Acno, wanna try some coffee?" a voice asked.

Macao had sat down next to him.

"Don't you have a wedding to plan?" Acnologia grumbled.

"Nah, Enno says I'm not allowed to interfere. Thinks I'll mess it up."

"She's right," Acno said. "What the hell is coffee?"

"You gotta try it!" Macao shouted. "Hey, Enno, can we get Acno some coffee?"

"How do you want it?" Enno asked, coming up. Mari was too busy making some food to run the bar, and Maggie, an iron-make mage who usually joined them, had been taking care of her baby for some time, so they were a bit short staffed.

"Uh…"

 _What the hell is coffee, anyway_?

"Black," Macao suggested. "Like his soul."

Acnologia hit him.

He'd gotten a bit better at pulling his punches with most of the guild members, so Macao only went flying off of the chair rather than halfway across the guild.

He accepted the mug from Enno and turned to watch Laxus and Erik interact.

"And this is Cana. She's…uh…she's my…family?"

"I'm your sister, dumbass," the ten-year-old said, not looking up from her cards.

"Cana!" Gildarts yelled from beside her. His gaze shifted to Acno, who gave him a smirking grin. "Dammit, Acno!"

He lifted the cup to his mouth over the grin and took a sip. "This is pretty good. What's it called, again?"

"Coffee," Enno repeated. "Most people will put some sugar or cream or milk in it. Sometimes other things, even. Like caramel and chocolate."

Acnologia made a face. "No thanks. I like it like this."

She smiled at him. "That's nice to know. It'll be a lot easier to make you a cup than just about anyone else in the guild."

She leaned forward. "Between you and me, Laxus has been trying to drink it all black, to seem tough, but he can't stand it. He'll wait until people aren't watching and then pour a bunch of cream and a little sugar into it."

"Doesn't surprise me," Acnologia muttered, bringing the mug up again.

The door opened and the Milkovich's walked in. Ur had officially adopted both boys a few months ago, on her birthday.

"Is this the new dragon slayer?" Gray asked, looking at Erik.

"Yeah, I'm Erik," Erik said, smiling at them.

"I'm Lyon, and this is my brother Gray. He's an idiot."

"AT LEAST I'M NOT AN ASSHOLE."

"YOU WANNA SAY THAT TO MY FACE?"

"I JUST DID. ARE YOU SURE _YOU'RE_ NOT THE IDIOT?"

"THAT STILL MAKES YOU AN ASSHOLE!"

The two began rolling around on the floor.

"Clothes," Acnologia growled, without even looking at them.

The boys split apart and began putting their clothes back on.

" _You_ still don't wear a shirt," Macao muttered from the stool next to him, until Acno punched him across the guild again.

"How does he do that?" Gray grumbled, exchanging glances with his brother. "I don't get how he knows our clothes are off. _We_ don't know our clothes are off."

"Man, I wish we were dragon slayers," Lyon muttered.

" _No_ , you _don't_."

Acnologia doesn't usually take harsh tones like that with kids (and all of these idiotic kids have wormed their way into his heart, no matter how small) but this was a serious matter.

He stood up and stared the two of them down. "Listen to me, right now, you idiot brats. I don't know if the cold has finally made your brains go numb, but I know you're both smart enough to know there's something wrong with that statement. You know as well as I do that I'm the only dragon around, and that means the only way you guys would become slayers would be with a lacrima. Lacrima implantation is extremely painful, and even if it's done correctly, there's usually less than a 10% chance of surviving. Erik and Laxus were _lucky_. Laxus is strong enough mentally, and Erik happened to have his friend there to bridge the gap, and power through it. Even if there _were_ two Ice Dragon Slayer Lacrimas – which there _aren't_ – it would be extremely dangerous and painful. Also, I'm told that such a quick adjustment can be a bitch to deal with. Laxus, why don't you tell them why you're always wearing those headphones?"

Everyone's attention turned to Laxus, who looked away. "I'm usually not listening to music in the guild. It's too _loud_ in here. _Everywhere_ is too loud. I use the headphones to muffle the sound. That's why it seems like I can always hear you through them. I can, and even then, you're _still_ too loud. If I don't respond, it's because I'm ignoring you."

"Knew it," Cana muttered.

"Laxus is right," Erik picked up, exchanging a glance with the other slayer. "I've never really had a problem with that aspect – I've always had _really_ good hearing, so I don't need to adjust with that. But this is different. For one, my eyes are killing me. Sometimes I just get a headache, when I look somewhere far away; it's so clear that it _hurts_. I can see every detail in the picture, no matter how far away I'm looking, and it's like I can't take it all in. It's not an easy adjustment, and getting the lacrima in is a huge shock to your system. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the survival rate was even less than 10%, and Acno is sparing our feelings to make us not feel bad."

"Why the hell would you idiots feel _bad_ about _surviving_?" Acno asked. "I raised the number so you idiots wouldn't get cocky. Yeah, it's more like less than two percent. As far as I know, only three people have survived implantation. I think I can name…somewhere over a hundred that died trying."

The Milkovich boys' faces were horrified, and looked as if they were going to burst into tears, and both Laxus and Erik paled.

"Who's the third?" Cana asked.

Everyone turned look at her, as she curiously stared at Acno and tilted her head. "What, sweetie?" Gildarts asked.

"You said only _three_ people survived lacrima implantation. Who's the third?" Cana asked.

"I'm sure you'll meet him eventually," Acnologia muttered. "He won't stop bothering me."

"I know of two more," Erik said, surprising everyone.

Acnologia looked at him. "Do you know who?"

"Orga, one of the kids that was there with me. And there was also another guy who came to visit…shit what was his name?"

"Where did you come from, Erik?" Ur's soft voice interrupted his mumbling.

Erik looked down. "I was held captive with some other kids by some dark guilds. They like experimenting on kids. There were two others, Orga and one more, and I know they had different Slayer magics than ours."

"What do you mean by that?" Acnologia asked.

"Well…Orga has lightning, but I remember you mentioning that the only Lightning Dragon Lacrima is the one Laxus has."

"That's correct," Acnologia nodded.

"Also, for some reason, his is black…"

Acnologia froze. " _What_?"

"It's…black...?" Erik repeated warily.

"What about the other one?" Acnologia demanded.

"The other guy was some sort of Fire Slayer, but his fire was black, too."

"THOSE DAMNED FOOLS!"

"What is it?" Makarov asked.

"Someone distract me, because I am _this_ close to destroying Era as a dragon."

"Please don't do that," Makarov begged.

" _This_ close," Acnologia growled, holding up his fingers about an inch apart.

Luckily, a distraction came.

The doors opened, and Erza Scarlet strode in, taking in the current mood. "What's with the tense atmosphere?" she demanded.

Surprisingly, the first one to speak was Erik. " _You_!"

To everyone's surprise, the mellow kid's face darkened, and he ran at Erza, with attack in his gaze.

Laxus, the fastest, transformed into lightning for a bit and grabbed Erik, pulling him back. "Erik, what the hell?"

"You _bitch!_ " Erik hissed at Erza. "You left us to _rot_!"

Her eyes squinted in confusion, before recognition dawned and she gasped in horror. "You – you were there!"

"Oh, I was there, alright!" Erik hissed, still struggling against Laxus and trying to attack the eleven-year old.

" _ **Erik, that's enough**_ **!"** both Laxus and Erik froze, and turned to Acnologia.

"What was that?" Makarov asked.

"Ancient Draconic," Acnologia answered, taking another sip from his coffee. "Dragon Slayers can automatically understand it."

At Erik and Laxus's looks, he answered, "To everyone else, it just sounded like growls."

"How did it make him stop?" Makarov asked.

"Simple," Acnologia said, standing up and putting down his mug. "I am the Alpha of this domain. Unless either of them beat me in a fight, (which they _won't_ ) they'll automatically defer to me. Ancient Draconic resides with their inner dragon on a deeper level, so they were more likely to obey. Now…"

He turned and looked between Erik and Erza. "What the fuck is this about?"

Erik glared at Erza. "Before I was in the dark guild's possession, I was a slave. Everyone else was too, with the exception of Orga. He was kidnapped from his family. Lucky bastard."

"How is that lucky?" Laxus asked, but not in a judging tone; just a curious one.

"The cultists who made us slaves killed our families," Erza said quietly. "They slaughtered the adults and took the kids for labor. At least this 'Orga' still has family alive."

Erik nodded, and the both of them shared a bitter look of understanding.

"But _this bitch_ ," Erza flinched, "Ended up escaping the island and leaving everyone behind! Jellal told us all how you blew up…the ships…as you…left…"

Everyone stared at Erik, whose face saddened. "I understand. I'm sorry."

"What just happened?" Gray asked.

"I have something called Soul Listening Magic," Erik said quietly, and Laxus let go of him. "It was the same reason that I didn't have a problem with my new hearing – I could already hear things in people's souls. Erza's soul just gave me her side of the story. I realize we were tricked now. In fact, I should be thanking Erza. She started the whole fucking rebellion in the first place, and we all would have been fine and left the island if Jellal wasn't possessed by Zeref…"

" _What did you say_?" Acnologia gasped, his eyes widening. He turned to Erza. "Who the hell is this Jellal? I need the full story."

She nodded, her eyes shining with tears. "Jellal…we were separated into groups in the Tower. Jellal was in my group, and we were really close. He ended up getting possessed by Zeref, the same person the cultists were trying to resurrect, when I ended up, uh…" she blushed a bit. "Leading the rebellion…He told me that if I told anyone about the Tower, he'd kill off all of our friends. After that he left me leave, and I ended up here because Grandpa Rob was a member of Fairy Tail."

"But that…" Acnologia's forehead creased. "Wait, what was the purpose of the Tower? They were making you build it, right?"

Erza nodded. "They said it was to resurrect Zeref."

"Resurrect…" Acnologia's eyes widened, striding forward and slamming his hand on a table.

It broke. "There's another R System?"

"That's what they called it," Erik admitted.

"Shit," Acnologia muttered. "Gildarts, Ur, Laxus, let's go. We've got shit to blow up. Where is this Tower?"

"I want to come too!" Cana shouted.

"Absolutely not," Acnologia hissed. "The only other people I would _consider_ taking are Makarov, Erza and Erik, and those last two are _only_ because they know the location."

He turned back to Erza and Erik. "Can you point it out on a map? Or at least the surrounding area? I should be able to find it then."

"I know it's off the edge of Caelum," Erik said. "But that's about it."

"I can show you," Erza said. "I'm not exactly sure, but I think it was somewhere around here."

She pointed on a map, and Acnologia took in the general location. "Got it, we should be good. Let's go."

They went outside and Acnologia transformed back into a dragon. " **Climb on.** "

Ur kissed Lyon and Gray's foreheads. "Alright, boys, I'll be back soon."

"Good luck, Mom," Gray said quietly, and Lyon nodded. "Don't take too long."

"Wow," Erza said quietly, looking up at Acnologia.

"Is it your first time seeing his dragon form?" Erik asked.

She nodded, then turned to him. "Wait, have you seen him like this before?"

"He tends to sleep as a dragon," Erik said, shrugging. "So yeah. Listen, about earlier…"

"No, it's alright," Erza said, waving it off. "I probably should have told someone. Master. Gildarts. Acnologia. Instead, I was just too scared."

"Hey, they're fixing it now, okay?" Erik pointed out.

Erza nodded a bit uncertainly, and continued making conversation. "I must say, I barely even recognized you," she admitted. "You look very different."

"It's 'cause of the lacrima," Erik said quietly. "The poison of my magic ended up dyeing my hair and eyes, maroon and purple."

"What you'd look like before?" Gray asked.

"Brown hair, brown eyes," Erik said, shrugging.

"I'm sorry," Erza repeated. "Maybe if I had told someone you wouldn't have ended up tested on by a dark guild."

"Hey, what's done is done, alright?" Erik said, hesitating a bit before he ruffled Erza's hair.

She glared at him. "Thank you for trying to be affectionate, but if you mess up my hair again, I'll stab you."

Slowly Erik pulled his hand away. "Right…"

He looked at the other kids, and saw Cana nod. The two boys exchanged glances. "Scary, isn't she?" Lyon asked.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Erza asked threateningly, in their face.

The two brothers jumped and embraced each other. "Nothing!"

Erik laughed. He thought he was going to like it here.

* * *

Laxus was honestly better off not really remembering them storm the Tower, because he had never seen Acnologia look so frightening; and he'd seen him take on Deliora.

The subsequent fight had left the budding tower in ruins, and it was only after all of the odd, demonic skeleton monsters were dead that Acnologia approached the small, blue-haired kid.

The boy started cackling, and before he began monologuing, Acno released a puff of magic in his face, and the kid collapsed.

"What was that?" Ur asked.

"I'm over four-hundred years old, I know about all magic alive, and I can cast some of most them," Acnologia deadpanned. "Sleep Magic is extremely simple for me, especially since Illusory Magic is classified as Chaos Magic, and Sleep Magic is a type of sub-category of Illusory Magic."

He hefted the kid over his shoulder and turned to all of the people remaining in the Tower.

" **Listen up, brats!** " he roared, amplifying his voice so it sounded as if he was in his dragon form. " **You've been lied to. This brat here never said a shard of truth, and were using all of you as labor to try and fulfill a fools' dream. He was possessed the whole time; someone else has been controlling all of you from the shadows. The Council will come collect you all so you can find a new home. If it wasn't for Erza, you would've all been stuck here for another who knows how many years creating something that was doomed from the start. You're fucking welcome.** "

He cleared his throat and turned to the rest of the Fairy Tail members. "Let's go, guys."

They found a place on the island he could transform, and he handed Jellal over to Gildarts and began to change.

"What about the kids?" Ur asked.

"They'll be fine," Laxus said, looking off into the distance. "I can smell the Rune Knights coming this way."

" **Good job, brat** ," Acnologia rumbled. " **Now, all of you, get on**."

They climbed onto the dragon and were carried off the island, back to Magnolia.


	8. Chapter Eight - Stellar

If you don't tend to read ANs, please read the following underlined shit:

 **Okay, first, a reminder that I'm using headcanons from this story and Ripples. They're the same. The way I believe magic works is the same. ****But because Ripples has Zeref and DoD has Acno, there's going to be different info presented. BUT IT'S TRUE FOR BOTH STORIES. So by reading this, you might get a sneak peak for future chapters of Ripples, and same the other way around, because to me they function the same way. (So if you've read Ripples, the beginning of this chapter may BLOW your MIND.)**

 **Also, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ RIPPLES you should know that I created more types of Stellar Magic (the category Celestial Spirit and Heavenly Body fall under) and threw them in there. They're here, too, and you'll learn more about them as the story continues.**

 **As for this chapter...originally it wasn't going to work like this. But then a few people mentioned it and it didn't go away...oops. Hope you Ripples fans enjoy.**

 **Oh well. Enjoy the chapter. The other slayers should be arriving around Chapter 11.**

 **Also, since Acno was raised when the gods are worshipped, the kids picked up the phrase 'gods-be-damned' from him. You'll probably see it a lot.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eight - Stellar**

" _Depriving someone of their freedom is the most despicable act imaginable. Anyone guilty of it should be BURIED so they can rot and be reincarnated as roses."_ _  
_ _―_ _Mizuho Kusanagi_

* * *

"Why are you so wary of him?" Erza asked.

They (as in the Milkovichs (Ur, Gray and Lyon), Dreyars (Makarov, Gildarts, Mari, Laxus and Cana), and Erik) turned to look at her, before all turning to look at Acnologia, who scowled from where he was leaning against a wall. His eyes were concentrated on Jellal's unconscious body on the bed.

"Because he's a Stellar Wizard," Acnologia grumbled. "You don't _fuck_ with Stellar Magic. You just don't. Absolutely not. That's the type of shit that turns you into Zeref, and gets you cursed by Ankhseram. The only one I know who was able to change the formatting of Stellar Magic so a non-Stellar Wizard could use it was Mavis."

"Mavis?" Makarov gasped. "How?"

"Who's that?" Erza asked.

"The founder of the guild," Erik said, picking his answer from Laxus's thoughts.

"Please stop doing that."

"I can't really help it, you know. Doesn't help that your soul is so gods-be-dammed _loud_."

"How was Mavis able to change it?" Makarov asked.

Acnologia blinked. "I'll explain more to _you_ later, but because she didn't need to worry about the possibility of being cursed," ( _because she was already cursed_ ), "she ended up using Stellar Magic in a different way."

"What way?" Makarov asked, more wound up.

Acnologia stared at him. "What do you think the Grand Fairy Spells _are_? They're probably the closest to Pure Magic, which is why they have to be wielded a certain way. Originally, it was Stellar Magic. Magic harvested from the stars."

"Well, you learn something new every day," Gildarts murmured.

"But I thought Fairy Law was based on Law! Which is _Black Magic_!" Makarov interrupted.

Acnologia gave him a look. "What do you think Stellar Magic _is_? Eventually, a star will turn into a black hole. Dark Matter comes from space. Ankhseram was worshipped as the god of space and matter, particularly the power of things such as black magic and stars."

Makarov seemed frozen, apparently in the revelation of his life, before he burst into tears, crying, "MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE."

It wasn't exactly false; he'd been raised on magic, and on how the Fairy Spells worked since he was a child, and even though he was able to cast him, he still didn't understand the spells down to their core. Because Acno had decided that it was better that information was kept secret.

No point now. After the first Stellar Wizard comes through the woodworks, the rest would follow.

He was dreading the day the Heartfilia girl would show up.

Makarov was still crying, but Acnologia ignored him.

"So, _that's_ why you don't mess with Stellar Magic?" Erza asked.

"Yes, and no," Acnologia sighed. "All practitioners of Stellar Magic, _true_ practitioners, like ones from the Five Bloodlines, end up… _evolving_ to a higher level." _Which is one reason Dragon Slayers can't stay away from them._ "Just as with Dragon Slayers, they aren't entirely human. They become a type of Holy Being, which is generally something they completely change into once they die, though not necessarily turning into constellations with keys for future Celestial Spirit Wizards. This is one reason why they're usually a bit stronger than most wizards, as well."

 _And if it wasn't for Zeref, Anna would have fit all of the requirements, too. Which means I could've seen her again…_

He looked back down at Jellal. "This kid has loads of untapped power, and he's _already_ pretty powerful. The thing is, since they're also considered a type of Holy Being, practitioners of Stellar Magic are usually very good people. Kind, and reasonable. And generally having a very, _very,_ strong willpower, which is also why it's better to let them do what they want. But anyway, because of that willpower, they don't crack. Usually. But if something catches them when they're down, when there's just a _moment_ of contemplation or doubt, it can switch their whole personality around. If they fall, they fall _hard._ And once they have the darker magic in them, they are _extremely_ susceptible to it."

Acnologia tried not to think of the people he knew who fell along those lines. Too many people had fallen, too close to home.

Even him.

"He held out for so long," Erza said quietly.

They turned to look at her.

"I was kidnapped from my home village back in August of X775," she began slowly. "And we were imprisoned in the Tower for over a year. Jellal was always so bright, and always found a way for us to keep fighting. Again and again, we tried to escape. Then, one day, they ended up torturing me, which is how I lost my eye…" Erza's hand came up to cover her right eye (her _false_ eye) before she dropped it. "And he freaked out, switching places with me. The next I saw him, he was killing the cultists and repeating how there was no God, only Lord Zeref."

"Well, there's a large chance that he wasn't possessed by Zeref himself. More likely a crazy cult that wants to revive him."

"So, there's more people we need to look out for?" Gildarts asked.

Acno nodded. "This isn't over by a long shot."

"Destiny again?" Laxus asked.

Acno nodded.

Laxus slumped, before turning to Erik. "Erik, let's go on a job. I think I saw a notice on the S Class board about taking out a dark guild."

Erik nodded, eager to go on a mission, though he was a bit worried about it being an S Class mission. But he trusted Laxus's judgement - if he thought the two of them could take on a dark guild on their own, then Erik would go.

Gildarts raised an eyebrow at them. "But the Raijinshu aren't back from their training yet."

Laxus stared at him. "So?"

Erik started laughing.

"Do I even _want_ to know what you found in everyone's heads?" Laxus asked.

Erik shook his head, continually laughing.

Laxus sighed and grabbed the back of Erik's shirt, dragging him out the door while he continued to laugh. Cubellios stayed curled up on her heated rock, trusting her human to return soon enough.

Everyone followed out, except for Porlyusica and Erza, who were watching over Jellal.

Acnologia turned to look at Makarov. "There's something you need to know." His gaze moved over to Porlyusica. " _Both_ of you."

* * *

"Can I come?" Cana asked as Enno stamped the request and Mari joined her behind the counter.

"No," both boys said at once.

"You're never gonna stop that, are you?" Laxus asked Erik.

Erik smirked at him.

"Laxus, you never let me come with you!" Cana complained.

"I'm sure it's not you," Gildarts tried reassuring his daughter.

Behind the counter, Mari and Enno giggled, already knowing what was going to happen next.

"Can I come?" Gildarts asked.

"No," both boys deadpanned.

Gildarts sulked in the corner.

The Milkovich boys were laughing, having already figured that the two boys didn't want anyone (like younger kids or annoying uncles) going along. Ur shushed them. "Don't make fun of him."

"Thank you, Ur," Gildarts said.

"He embarrasses himself enough on his own," Ur finished, and her boys laughed and Gildarts returned to the corner.

Cana turned back to the boys. "Why not?"

"Dragon Slayer Bonding Time," Erik answered, and Laxus punched him.

"Ow!"

"Please stop announcing my thoughts everywhere," Laxus said.

"No. Don't be a tsundere." Just about everyone already thought that Laxus was gay because of Freed's infatuation with him. Erik didn't want anyone thinking the two of _them_ were in a relationship.

That was just...wrong. Not because he likes boys, but because Erik was starting to view Laxus as _family._

After all, Macbeth is attracted to both ends of the spectrum, and Sorano likes girls. Erik didn't really give a damn who liked who, but he knew that Laxus was straighter than a stick.

"You need to learn some gods-be-damned tact," Laxus responded, having no idea what was running through Erik's head. "And I'm not a fucking tsundere."

* * *

"Ahh, the joys of dark woods," Erik muttered.

Laxus rolled his eyes and strolled ahead, his coat billowing out behind him.

"Do you know where their hideout is?" Erik asked.

Laxus stopped and smirked. "Not really. I've been sniffing it out. You give it a try."

"Can I try hearing it out?"

Laxus shook his head. "What if someone deafens you, Erik? Your greatest strength is always your greatest weakness."

"What do you mean?" Erik asked, starting to feel a bit frightened.

"If people find out that you can read minds-"

"- _hear souls_ -"

"-then they'll go for your ears. If Acno roared directly into your ear, would you still be able to hear people's souls?"

Erik's eyes widened, and he shook his head, his hands coming up to his ears as if to block a noise that wasn't there.

"See?" Laxus said more gently.

"Yeah," Erik muttered, a lot warier of everything. But he dropped his hands and took a deep breath, searching the air for scents. Acnologia had started him on smelling magic, and he sniffed for the most concentrated area of the forest.

"This way," Erik said, leading it, and Laxus just smiled and followed him.

After continuing through the forest for another hour or so, they finally came across the guild hall. Together, the two of them crouched in the bushes, watching it.

"So now what?" Erik asked.

"We wait," Laxus said. "Stakeout the place, see what information we can find out."

Erik nodded, enjoying the mission. While he was close to the rest of the kids with Brain, especially Macbeth, he also never exactly felt the type of kinship he had with them as he had with Laxus. While they had all been in the Tower together, and all controlled under Brain, Laxus was _just like him._

Yeah, Macbeth was his _best friend._ But working together like this with Laxus made him feel like he had an older brother looking out for him. Even if Laxus wasn't even two years older than Erik.

It was a different type of relationship - one he'd never had before - and he was glad to have it.

Suddenly, he stiffened. "Do you hear that?" he asked Laxus.

Laxus shook his head. "Now that you mention it, I can't hear anything from inside."

"I can barely hear through the door but…I think…they're hurting someone…"

Erik straightened as he heard a scream, and even Laxus stiffened.

"I heard that," Laxus said, getting up. "Screw waiting, let's go!"

The two of them ran up to the door, Erik slightly behind Laxus, and Laxus easily knocked down the door and ran inside.

They ran down the halls, Erik blasting poison at all of the people they left in their wake, hoping to keep them down.

They burst open the last door, and looked at a group of maybe twenty wizards, surrounding one wizard who was hovering over a young girl strapped to an altar. He had a knife in his hand, and was slowly cutting into her, as she screamed.

"You get the girl, I'll get the others," Laxus said to Erik before launching for the nearest man and pummeling him into the wall.

The ceremony stopped and the dark mages all turned to look at the intruders. Erik avoided them as they pinned all of their attention on Laxus, who was like a monster as he took them down.

Erik ran to the girl and understood why Laxus had him get her; his poison would easily remove the straps that kept her on the altar.

As he went for the first one, there was a loud bang, and the entire building exploded. Not in fire, but in pieces, all flying outward.

"What the hell, Laxus?" Erik asked. He and the girl were fine, as there was a sunroof right above the altar, but the rest of the building was in shambles and pieces, the harsh light of day raining upon them.

"Sorry!" Laxus shouted, completely unapologetic as he punched a dark mage into another one.

Erik shook his head and turned back to the girl, dissolving one of her binds.

"Who are you?"

The soft voice brought his attention up, and his gaze was pulled to her light blue eyes, almost shining like the moon.

Her voice had surprised him, because he couldn't hear anything from her. It was as if she didn't have a soul.

No, that's not right; as if something was blocking it

Despite the grittiness on her, he could also tell that her hair was a vivid shade of violet, and that the girl was probably less than a year younger than him, and maybe two years younger than Laxus, placing her around fourteen. She also looked wild; her clothes tattered, and her hair strung up around braids in order to keep it in place. Almost as if she'd been living in the wilderness.

"I'm Erik, and I'm going to get you out of here," he said, dissolving another one of her bonds and leaving her arms free.

She frowned, reaching over and rubbing one of her wrists where the restraints had been too tight. "Do you know who I am?"

Erik began to feel wary. "No, who are you?"

"I don't know," she said as Erik dissolved the last bind. "I've been trying to figure it out since I woke up. I was hoping you would know."

 _Wait, she has amnesia?_

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she shoved herself off of the altar, tackling Erik onto the ground.

The dark mage right over his shoulder fell forward onto nothing, the knife he was going to use slipping from his grasp and clattering to the floor, and Erik was in shock.

Laxus had _just_ lectured him about his hearing, and he had gotten distracted because he couldn't get a read off the pretty girl in front of him.

If that knife had hit him (a three-bladed knife that would've gone right between his shoulder blades), he would have died.

"Erik," the girl said, shaking him. "We're in the middle of battle! Wake up!"

He snapped out of it and turned to her. "Do you remember anything about your name?"

She hesitated. "I think it starts with an L…"

"Lauren? Lori? Lena? Lacey? Lani?"

"No, it's not any of those," she said, shaking her head. "It starts with L."

"Those _do_ start with L," Erik deadpanned.

"No, the letter it starts with is an E. It _sounds_ like it starts with an L."

Erik's eyes widened. "Like Ellie? Or Ella?"

"Closer, but I don't think it's either of those."

"How about Elle, then?"

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Erik. _So,_ original."

And then she grabbed Erik and pulled him out of the way.

Dammit, he'd gotten distracted _again_.

"Can you tap this?" she asked, pointing to a type of collar on her neck. "With magic?"

"Why?" he asked.

"It stops magic," she said.

"How do you know?" he asked.

She shrugged.

Erik shrugged and did as she asked, and the metal choker glowed and fell off.

And then all of a sudden, there was a burst of energy from the girl.

"What the hell?" he asked, blocking his eyes and standing his ground.

 _Shit, I hope this wasn't a mistake. What if she was even eviler mage, or a_ demon _or something?_

Maybe there was a _reason_ that she was chained down.

That didn't seem to be the case, though. Instead, she turned and socked a dark mage in the face, her fist glowing with gold magical energy.

Erik shrugged, hoping he did the right thing, and joined her in the fight. "Why are you helping us?" he asked her.

"Erik, I woke up with no memory and was being tortured by some dicks in a dark guild. Some mages come, help untie me, and are fighting said dark wizards. What the fuck do you _think_ I'm going to do?"

Well, she had a point there.

Despite not remembering anything, she seemed to be doing pretty well fighting, using some sort of Light Magic to attack the mages, as well as powering up her own bodily strength with her odd energy.

He heard the words ' _Shit_ ' cross his mind and turned to see Laxus, who was panting and holding his side.

Most of the other mages were down now; there were maybe five or six more mages that had run into the room, and the one that had stood over Elle in the beginning, who was currently fighting Laxus. Everyone else was down.

He was yanked to the side again. "Erik, what did I say about paying attention?"

"Sorry," he said, punching another dark mage, and asking, "What do you know about the guy my friend is fighting?"

"That's the guild master," she said, her voice darkening. "I remember some other dark mage challenging him, and the guy beat him up like he was nothing, claiming he was on the level of a Wizard Saint."

Erik's eyes widened. Whether or not the guy was lying, Laxus was still having difficulty with him.

"Wish we had some lightning for him," he muttered.

"What do you mean?" Elle asked, sending a beam of light at a mage and knocking them out.

"Laxus and I are Dragon Slayers, and we can eat our elements. I can eat anything that's considered toxic, and Laxus can eat lightning."

She paused. "Lightning, huh?" Elle eyed him from the side. "Can you handle these guys on your own?"

"If I need to," Erik said. "Why?"

"I'm doing some math," she said, "and I'm going to need to stop using magic power soon. Cover me."

Then she turned to Laxus and closed her eyes as she began resonating with power. " _LAXUS_!" she called, and the slayer was too busy fighting to look at her.

"WHAT?" he barked, upset that she was distracting him.

"Eat up!"

The words caused him to turn, and Erik watched with wide eyes as she threw _lightning_ at Laxus.

Both Laxus and the mage he was grappling with had wide eyes as the purple lightning shot towards the slayer and he ate it up.

The teen's eyes glowed, and the tables turned on the mage he was fighting. Laxus had the upper hand, and was easily taking him on now.

"I thought you used Light Magic," Erik said to Elle, as she sat down, resting, and he continued taking out the last four mages.

"One, Laxus is a lightning mage, right? If he can eat lightning then he can eat light. It's _in the damn word_."

"Alright, I'll give you that, but you've been using Light Magic specifically. It was a golden color. Your lightning was the same color as your hair. Except brighter."

Elle breathed slowly, continuing to meditate and trying to fill her magical container. "To be honest, I also have control over more than a few elements."

"Why?" Erik asked.

She opened her eyes and glared at him. "Do I look like I fucking know, Erik? I _have amnesia_."

He looked away, muttering. "You didn't need to be rude about it."

She sighed. "I don't think I have a lot of power left, but I can give you some poison later, alright?"

"Okay," Erik said, taking out another mage. He didn't really need it, but he was curious on how it would taste. "How do you know this, if you can't remember?"

"There's a type of amnesia where you only forget any sort of personal information," the girl said.

"And how do you know _that_?" Erik asked.

She shrugged. "I dunno, but to me it seems like common knowledge, so I must have known about it before I lost my memory."

Now Erik was kinda glad he couldn't read her (talk about a _headache_ ), and he turned back and knocked out the last guy right as the mage Laxus was fighting went flying across the room (or what was left of it) and hitting the altar.

Laxus moved over to them, his energy fading, but he was still holding his side. Now that everything had calmed down, Erik could smell the blood emanating from him. "Shit, Laxus, you're bleeding."

"I was right, then," the girl said quietly. She got up and moved closer to Laxus, kneeling down and hovering her hands over him. " _Saturn's Healing Winds_."

A light grayish color shone from her, wrapping around Laxus's midsection. The power thrived through the air, and just breathing it in made Erik feel stronger. When she was done, and pulled away, Laxus lifted his hand. Underneath, was a thin slice, rather than the seeping knife wound it had been.

"Holy _shit_ ," Erik muttered.

Laxus wasn't much better, staring at Elle with wide eyes and shock, and then all of a sudden, the air shifted. With the scent of blood no longer clouding his nostrils, and Elle's scent blowing towards him, Laxus's eyes darkened, his pupils turning to slits as he took it in.

"Mine!" he hissed, pouncing on Elle and wrapping around her, before lifting her in his arms. " _Mine!"_

"What the fuck?" Erik asked.

Elle wasn't much better.

"Er…Laxus?" she asked softly. "Can you...let me go?"

"No," he hissed, pulling her closer to his chest. "Mine!"

"Okay, that's enough," Erik said, pulling Elle away from him. "You're acting barbaric, Laxus."

" _Mine_ ," he hissed, shoving Erik back and pulling Elle in closer. Despite the fact that she had no clue what was going on, Elle was actually looking more and more relaxed in his arms.

But to Erik's surprise, the place where Laxus had shoved him back had torn his skin across his stomach, and Erik pressed his hand to his bleeding side.

"Erik!" Elle cried, no longer looking relaxed. "Laxus, you _hurt_ him!"

She pushed Laxus away, who let her go in shock, and hurried over to Erik's side, activating her magic and healing it, though she seemed to be struggling to produce enough magic.

She had barely finished before she was scooped back into Laxus's arms, as he hissed, " _Mine_."

"That's it!" Erik cried, getting up and careful not to strain his side. "We're going home, now! We'll have the mayor ship us the reward or something, but we need to contact Acno immediately."

Laxus didn't say anything, simply growled and pulled Elle closer, who was completely in his arms and had no chance of walking.

Elle looked back and forth between the two, before looking up at Laxus. "Laxus, are you going to take me home? I want to meet your family."

Erik got what she was saying, as Laxus didn't seem to be moving any time soon. "Yeah, don't you want her to meet your Mom? And Gildarts?"

" _No Gildarts_ ," Laxus hissed.

… "Makarov?" Erik suggested.

" _No!_ "

"Cana?" Erik asked.

Laxus nodded. " _Yes_."

"Macao?"

" _No_."

"What about Ur?"

" _Yes_."

"So he's fine with girls?" Elle asked.

"What about the Milkovich boys?"

Laxus hissed and hesitated. " _Maybe_."

"So not men, then?" Erik asked. "What about Acno?"

To both of their surprise, Laxus nodded. " _Acnologia is Alpha_."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Elle asked.

Erik sighed. "Since he mentioned that Acno was the alpha, this probably has to do with some of our dragon shit. Sorry, Elle."

She shrugged. "I don't really care, though I kinda want to know what's so special about this Acno guy. Will I have a place to stay if I go home with you guys?"

Erik nodded. "Yeah, you can join our guild. We kinda function like a family, though, so most people will get up in your business. Just warning you."

She smiled softly. "Then I'm okay. I don't know if there's anywhere else for me to go, anyway. And maybe you guys will have contacts to help me find out who I am."

Well, she had a point there.

"Where are you guys from?" she asked.

"Magnolia," Erik answered. "Why?"

"I'm thinking," she said quietly. "Trying to see if I have enough magic…Since we're going to be leaving, maybe you should alert the mayor, or whoever set up the job? So these guys stay here? And do you have any sort of poison that will keep them unconscious?"

Erik nodded and approached Laxus, who growled. He rolled his eyes and pulled out the communication lacrima from Laxus's back-pack, calling up the mayor and explaining how there were complications.

As he did that, Elle closed her eyes and breathed, meditating and trying to fill her magical container with energy.

Erik hung up when the mayor said that the Rune Knights were deployed, and turned to Elle, who was still meditating.

Sighing, he started dragging all of the dark mages into one place, and cast a poison on them that would leave them unconscious.

Finally, he was done and turned to stare at Laxus, who was standing immobile, and Elle, who was still meditating in his arms.

"Elle?" Erik asked.

"We need to wait for you to hear the Rune Knights. For now, search all of the mages," she said, not breaking her concentration.

"Why?" Erik asked.

"Because I asked?"

"No."

"Because I said so?"

"No."

"Because Laxus won't let me down to do it myself."

"But what do they have that you could want?" Erik asked, sighing and getting to the point.

Elle shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know that they probably have money and magical artifacts and jewelry and stuff, and I also know that I have no memory and am broke. Also, they're jerks and going to prison anyway. Might as well take their stuff."

Erik sighed, but couldn't really fault her logic. He began scavenging through the debris and finding some Jewel for Elle to use.

When he was done, he pushed it all into the middle of the room and sighed, waiting. Elle was still meditating, and he was going to start too, until he heard a noise in the distance.

"Uh, Elle?" Erik asked, hearing the Rune Knights approach. "We should probably get going. It's a bit of a walk to Magnolia."

"Come here," she said, reaching out a hand. "I'm done. And make sure you grab all of the stuff."

Laxus growled.

She booped him on the nose. "Stop it! You want me to meet Acno and Cana and your mom?"

Laxus nodded.

"Then let Erik come closer," she demanded.

Laxus nodded, but still growled as Erik (still confused and carrying the rewards) came closer, though he didn't do anything else.

Elle reached out a hand and grabbed Erik's hand.

Laxus's growling increased.

"Shut up, you stupid tsundere," she muttered, wrapping her other arm around Laxus.

" _No._ "

There was a twisting sensation, and the next thing they knew, they were standing outside Magnolia's train station.

"This is the right place, right?" she asked.

"Okay, seriously, _what the fuck_?" Erik asked, letting go of her hand and backing away. "First, you're using Light Magic, then you're using Lightning and then Healing magic (which I'm pretty sure is lost, by the way) and now you're _teleporting_? What the hell are you? A god? A demon?"

She looked offended. "I'm not a demon! Fuck you! And healing magic is associated with the sky, idiot. It's just another element."

"She's a Stellar Mage."

The three of them turned to look at Acnologia, who stood there crossing his arms. "I literally just told you two this morning how dangerous Stellar Wizards are, and you decide to bring one home?"

"Well, fuck you, too!" the girl shot.

Luckily, Acnologia just looked amused, rather than murderous. "Alright, let's go back to the guild. Laxus, is there a reason you're carrying her?"

" _Mine_ ," Laxus hissed, pulling the girl closer.

"Of course," Acnologia muttered, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, let's go."

"What are you doing here?" Erik asked.

"I was passing the train station when I smelled you guys…and some Stellar Magic," he said, looking at Elle warily.

"Hey, fuck you!" she hissed, squirming in Laxus's arms. "I'll punch you, you dick!"

"I'm a dragon," Acnologia deadpanned. "I can _eat_ you."

"I don't care!" she hissed, still squirming. "Plus, you're a member of a legal guild." She pointed at the blue Fairy Tail mark on his chest. "So you've got no _actual_ excuse for eating me, an innocent child."

Acnologia stared at her and she stared back, not looking away for a second.

"Do you see what I meant earlier, Erik?" Acnologia asked. "About not backing down? Even though she can _actively_ sense that I'm more powerful than her (not to mention that she's short on magic), she's not going to stop."

He looked away, and directed his attention to Erik. "Where did she come from?"

Erik was frozen. Looking away first was seen as a sign of weakness, and he couldn't understand why Acnologia would do it. "You looked away."

Acnologia, looking completely shameless over the fact that he, a dragon and the most powerful being on Fiore, looked away from a small girl, sighed. "I _told_ you, Erik. You don't fuck with Stellar Magic, and you don't fuck with their users either. It's always _always_ easier to give in when they want something. _Especially_ if they're a girl."

"What does that have to do with it?" Erik asked.

Acnologia just shook his head, muttering, "And people call _me_ monsters..." He raised his voice. "You'll learn this yourself someday. Where did she come from?"

"The guild we took down ended up having her as a hostage," Erik explained as they moved towards the guild hall. "Why aren't you acknowledging Laxus?"

"Trust me, we're not going to bother him until we're in a place that he won't break things."

"Do you know what's happening?" Erik asked.

Acno snorted. "Yeah. If you two had met before Laxus turned fifteen or after he reached seventeen, he wouldn't act like this at first. But between those ages, dragon slayers start going through puberty. He's acting possessive now because he wants to keep you away from other people. It's simple. He'll be fine in awhile."

"Yeah," Elle said sarcastically. "Simple."

Do you know what they were doing with her?" Acnologia continued, ignoring Elle.

"They were doing a ritual, on _me_ ," Elle stressed. "I am _right_ here."

"I don't acknowledge psychopaths," Acnologia said.

"And yet you just did, and I don't think _I'm_ the psychopath. _I_ didn't just threaten to eat someone."

"Yes, but if you do it, it's cannibalism. I'm a _dragon,_ so it's okay."

"Yeah, but you were a dragon slayer like us before you mutated into a dragon," Erik pointed out. "So, wouldn't it count for you, too?"

"At least she'll be a good addition," Acnologia muttered, too quiet for Elle to hear.

"Yeah! Thanks, Erik!" Elle threw out her hand for a high five, and Erik hit it as Laxus growled.

She turned in Laxus's arms and booped Laxus on the nose again. "What did I say, baka! Stop it! Erik is a _friend_."

" _Erik is a threat_ ," Laxus hissed.

"Really?" Erik kinda brightened at that. "Didn't realize I was so strong."

" _Threat_ ," Laxus hissed again.

Elle booped him again. "Stop it! You stupid tsundere!"

"See, Elle agrees with me!" Erik pointed out.

" _No. Not a tsundere_ ," he hissed.

All three of the non-animalistic people paused.

"Why the hell did _that_ go through his conscious?" Erik asked. "Of all things."

"I don't know and I don't care," Acnologia murmured, picking up his pace, and they sped up their pace towards the guild.

"Are we going-"

"Absolutely not," Acnologia hissed, cutting Elle off. "If we go _through_ the guild, Laxus is viable to destroy the hall."

"Oh," she said.

"Instead we're going to the training field behind it, we should be good there. Plus, Laxus had Freed, another one of the members, write up some rune walls out there."

"Why do we need rune walls?" she asked.

"Because you're going to be taken away from Laxus while I try to talk to him," Acnologia said blatantly. "As that's currently going to be the easiest way to get him back to normal. Plus, we don't want him breaking things."

They approached the guild hall and turned around the corner of it right as the worst possible option happened.

Gildarts and Makarov walked out the doors.

"Shit," Acnologia muttered.

* * *

 **Elle, Mari, and a possible Mari and Gildarts baby, will be the main OCs in the story. Yes, they are from my other story too. Again IT'S EASIER FOR ME.**

 **I hope you guys don't abandon this story because you hate OCs or something.**

 **Also my depression and anxiety is acting up so hugs and kisses and comments would be nice! :)**


	9. Chapter Nine - The Dreyars, Part Three

**Just so you guys know, I have no fucking idea where these starting quotes come from. I'm literally just scrolling through goodread's 'dragon' tag for quotes. So if you recognize something, great. Unless I specifically say so, I'm not in that fandom. Sorry.**

 **Also I know the number of Bickslow's souls. Remember I'm using the same timeline I used to make Ripples, so that mean he doesn't have all five yet.**

 **Also remember that since meeting here are different, relationships are going to be different...**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine – The Dreyars, Part Three**

" _As long as they were together, they could face anything. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel alone—and she knew he didn't either."  
― __Katie Reus_ _,_ _Saved by Darkness_

* * *

"Hey, Laxus," Gildarts said. "Who's the pretty lady?"

"Have you finally started dating, my boy? And you picked a cute one, too!"

The next second, both of them were flying across the guild hall, even with Elle still in Laxus's arms. " _Mine_."

Gildarts was the first up, already moving back through the destroyed guild. "What the hell, Laxus?"

Laxus roared at him, still not letting go of Elle.

Acnologia gave a growl at him, trying to herd him towards the training field.

Instead, Laxus turned around and roared at Acnologia, too.

"Alright, now I'm not happy," Acnologia grunted. "This just got three times harder, and we're going to have to do this a bit differently now. Everyone back away, this might get ugly. Erik?"

"Yeah?" Erik asked, more than a little terrified.

"You're going to need to take Elle from Laxus."

" _What_?" Erik squeaked, dropping all of the stuff in his hands from shock.

" _MINE!"_ Laxus roared.

"Go!" with a shove forward, Erik was pushed to Laxus and managed to pull Elle halfway out of Laxus's grip before Laxus was socked in the face by Acno, loosening his grip and throwing him through the guild, all the way outside.

He managed to be pushed directly onto the training ground, and Acno shouted. "Jim, activate the rune barriers, _now_."

The orange-haired kid used his magic to dart forward and slam his foot on the runes, activating the barrier. "My name is _Jet_."

"Sure, sure, Jack."

Laxus pounded on the barrier, his eyes sparkling with rage. " _MINE!_ "

"So, will you tell us what is going on, Acnologia?" Makarov asked, as most of the guild converged on the training field, just out of Laxus's range.

The group of kids specifically clumped together, muttering things between them.

"Erik, you can put me down, now," Elle said, smiling at him.

He smiled back at her and put her down, blushing.

Acnologia sighed, looking at them and back at Laxus.

"It's simple, really," Acnologia said. "Technically, Laxus is going through puberty."

"It's _not_ simple, stop saying that!" Elle said.

Acnologia continued. "Because he's a dragon slayer, and he met his mate while going through it, he reacted in such a way. If he was younger than fifteen, or older than seventeen, he would've been fine around her. It's that small period of time that Dragon Slayers tend to go too far if that's when they first meet. This is Laxus's mate."

"Mate?" Elle asked. _"That's_ why he's acting like that?"

"No way!" Erik shouted. "Elle can't be his mate! That's messed up, he didn't even ask her or anything."

Acnologia stared at him. "I don't need to read your mind to know what you're thinking right now, Erik, and this would've happened eventually anyway. Being his mate is the _only logical explanation_ for this behavior, and I've got a way to prove it, too. We just need to wait for the Thunder Legion to get back home."

"Is there any way to get Laxus back to normal?" Mari asked, staring at her son worriedly. Next to her, Gildarts put a hand on her shoulder.

"It would've been easier if Gildarts or Makarov didn't interfere, but now…" Acnologia shrugged. "If Elle kisses him, it should work."

"Does it need to be on his lips, or…?" Elle asked.

Acnologia shrugged. "I don't know. I've never witnessed it done another way, but I suppose it might."

Elle got up and began to approach the barrier.

"Elle, sit back down, you're being reckless!" Erik shouted.

"Enough," Acnologia hissed in his ear. "I get that you like her, Erik, but she's _not for you_."

"She should get to choose!" Erik hissed back.

"Yeah, she probably should, but that's not how fate works," Acnologia snarled.

 _Anna should've gotten to choose someone else (_ anyone else _), too. If she had, maybe she'd have lived longer…_

Erik glared up at him, and Acnologia sighed. "Listen, Erik, there will be someone for you, alright? But it's not _her_."

"You said you didn't know. That you _thought_ Laxus was acting this way because she was his mate but that it might be something else."

"Many odd things have popped up over the years, since destiny has decided to run amok," Acnologia said softly. "And while this could be one of those things, I think it's the simpler version. You're just reaching for straws now."

"So...how does this mate thing work, exactly?" Elle asked, standing right in front of Laxus, who was snarling and pushing against the barrier. She was only a few feet away.

"Dragon Slayers are monogamous, if that's what you're asking," Acnologia said.

"So…what, we're together forever?" she asked.

"Pretty much."

She nodded. "Okay then."

"Okay?" Erik repeated, shock. "How is that _okay_? You're stuck with him!"

"Don't get me wrong, I would've liked to get to know him first." Elle rolled her eyes at Erik over her shoulder. "But if I'm stuck with him…that means that he's stuck with me, too."

 _At least I'll never have to be alone again._

And for the first time, Erik got a glimpse of her thoughts.

She looked back to Laxus, who snarled, " _Mine_."

She glared back, crossing her arms. "Only if you're mine."

There was a moment of silence, and then Laxus nodded. " _Yours_."

"Then...I'll be yours," she said, leaning in and kissing him on the forehead.

"Awww," Erza said, wiping away a tear.

"She's insane," Erik muttered, even after hearing what he had. He didn't really even know whether he was talking about Elle or Erza. Both? Probably both.

"She's a Stellar Mage," Acnologia grunted.

So maybe only Elle then.

"They're generally even more love deprived than Dragon Slayers. And I think she'll fit right in," Acnologia finished.

 _What the hell does that mean_?

Elle pulled back from the kiss and Laxus collapsed on the ground.

"Uh…Is that supposed to happen?" she asked.

"Ye-"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO LAXUS-SAMA, YOU WENCH?" someone shrieked.

Everyone turned towards Freed and the rest of the Thunder Legion as they joined the guild on the training fields.

"I challenge you to a duel!" the twelve-year old boy said, yanking out his sword and pointing it straight at her.

Elle blinked, then looked at Acnologia. "Is this some sort of initiation, or something?"

"There's no-" Makarov started, but Acnologia interrupted him.

"Yes."

"Do we still need to keep Laxus like this?" she asked.

Acnologia shook his head, deactivating the barriers and pulling Laxus out. "Good luck."

"I don't think this is fair," Erik pointed out. "Elle helped us out a lot during our fight with the dark guild, and she gave a bunch of her energy to Laxus, too."

"So you use Lightning Magic?" Freed hissed. "It must be horrific compared to Laxus-sama's."

"Actually, it's the same color of her hair, except glowy," Erik pointed out. "And I still don't think it's a good idea."

"Aww, are you worried for me?" Elle asked him, smiling.

On the ground, Laxus growled.

"What the hell, _he's unconscious_!" Erik yelled.

Elle giggled and turned to face Freed. "Is he wearing any limiters?"

"No," Acnologia said.

"Then I should be fine," Elle said, staring at Freed. "It'll probably be a lot closer than normal, though. I'll have to use my Ultimate Secret Technique (TM)."

"What's a trademark?" Cana asked.

"You think you are stronger than me?" Freed hissed.

"Dude, we were on an S Class Mission," Erik said.

Freed didn't care.

"Isn't he supposed to be the _reasonable_ one?" Evergreen muttered.

"What are the rules?" Elle asked.

"THERE ARE NO RULES!" Freed boomed.

"Until one of you surrenders or is unconscious," Acnologia said.

"Acno!" Makarov shouted.

"Okay. And what's the point of this?" Elle asked.

"If you do not defeat me, you are not allowed in the guild," Freed declared.

"Freed!" Makarov yelled.

"Shhh, this is getting good," Acnologia shushed him.

"And if _I_ defeat _you_?" Elle asked.

"You will not! Laxus-sama's well-being is at sake!"

Elle smirked. "Since I'm going to be dating Laxus, how about you call me Elle-sama."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"'

"To which part, the dating or the calling me 'sama'?"

"Both!"

"Why are you letting this continue?" Makarov demanded Acnologia.

"Because it's super entertaining."

"Freed, man," Bickslow said, coming forward, and looking back and forth between Elle and Laxus's unconscious form, his Figure Eyes glowing brightly from behind his helmet. "I think you should calm down. Uh…Bossman won't be happy when he finds out about this."

"Not happy! Not happy!" his four totems chanted.

"I DON'T CARE!"

"Then you're an idiot," Elle said.

Freed paused. "You have the audacity-"

"Yeah, I do," she said. "Laxus is your friend, right? You shouldn't do something that'll make him unhappy. You should never do something that could put your friendship at risk."

The two of them stared each other down, and for a second, it seemed as if they weren't going to fight.

"Ugh, my head…Freed, what the hell are you doing?"

Everyone turned to look at Laxus, who was now awake and rubbing the front of his forehead.

"I'm teaching this… _wench_ …a lesson!" Freed exploded.

"Is that the only word you have for me?" Elle asked. She was ignored.

Laxus tensed, and his eyes grew dark as he stared Freed. "Don't. Talk. About. Her. Like. _That._ I won't allow you to hurt her."

Freed's jaw dropped. "But Laxus-sama-"

"No," Laxus said.

"So, this isn't my initiation?" Elle asked.

"There's no Fairy Tail initiation," Laxus said.

A moment of clarity struck him and he turned to look at Acnologia. "Uncle Acno…"

Acnologia shrugged. "What can I say? It's entertaining."

Elle shrugged. "Eh, I can't deny you that one."

She walked to the barrier and tried to deactivate it. "Uh…I think your rune wall is broken."

"It's not," came a low voice.

Spinning around, she came to Freed, who was wielding his sword. "We do not leave this barrier until one of us is victorious."

"FREED!" Laxus roared, coming forward and pounding on the barrier. "Let her out right now!"

"I see," Elle said. "You're a rune mage. Congratulations. You have the home field advantage, is that right?"

He smirked.

"So, we're confined to this space, correct?" she asked.

"Correct," he said.

She smirked. "Good."

And then she teleported behind Freed and kicked him in the nuts.

His breath left his air in a whoosh, and fell to the side, holding that area.

"Is that enough for the barrier to come down?" Elle asked innocently.

Acnologia was too busy laughing, rolling on the floor.

"So much for a real fight," Gray muttered.

"And I wanted to see her Secret Technique…" Lyon said sadly.

"I heard that!" Elle said, leaving the barrier. "And considering that a dark guild tried to sacrifice me earlier today, I think I'm good. And by the way, that _was_ my Ultimate Secret Technique (TM). As long as I have enough magic to do that, I'm generally pretty good…if it's a guy. And they're not wearing a cup. But if it's a teenage guy, I'm generally well off as long as I can do that."

"You…you…" Freed tried to say, still on the ground.

Elle paused. "If you want to try and fight me for real, tell me and I'll consider it. But only in a place you haven't booby trapped first."

She turned to Laxus and grabbed his hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" he asked, still staring at her, never taking his eyes off of her since the fight.

"If I'm going to be with you for the rest of my life, I'm gonna get to know you."

"Okay," Laxus said, following her lead and disappearing into the guild hall. Before, "Wait, what?"

"Freed, are you going to get up anytime soon?" Bickslow asked.

"Are you, are you?" his totems repeated.

"No," Erik said. "He wants to wallow in his pain. Or his self-pity, if you listen to his head."

"Who the hell are you?" Bickslow asked.

"I'm Erik," Erik said. "I'm the other dragon slayer."

"How did you know what Freed was thinking?" Evergreen asked.

"I hear souls," Erik explained.

"I deal with souls, too," Bickslow said, sticking out his tongue.

"I know," Erik said, smiling and tapping his ear.

"Bickslow," came a deep voice, and they all turned to Acnologia.

"Um…yes, sir?" Bickslow asked, having never spent much time around the dragon.

"Drop the sir. Anyway, is their string red? Elle's and Laxus's?"

Bickslow nodded.

Acnologia turned to Erik. "See? They're mates. If you want to find yours this early, I suggest you ask Bickslow to help you follow your red string. Eventually, you'll find your mate."

"Uh, his red string is connected to the snake…" Bickslow said, his Figure Eyes glowing again.

Everyone stared at Bickslow, before turning and staring at Erik, who was staring at Cubellios, who was wrapped around his arm and staring Erik in the eyes.

"MY MATE IS A SNAKE?" Erik yelled.

"No, shut up," Acnologia snapped, rubbing his temples. "You're going to give me a fucking headache. I have reason to believe that your snake is a human. She – or he – is simply cursed."

"So how do we reverse it?" Erik asked.

Makarov leaned forward and observed the snake. "Now that you mention it…I think I sense something. Acno, would the spell you taught me shortly after I became guild master work."

"It should."

Makarov cast an identification spell, and nodded when symbols came up. "Ah yes, she is Body Linked to something, and that is why she is having issues. I'll just reverse-"

"Absolutely not," Acnologia hissed, holding up a hand. "That's not just any body link, that's specifically linked with Stellar Magic. You Don't. _Fuck_. With Stellar. _Magic_."

"So what do we do to reverse it?" Erik asked. "I don't want my mate to be stuck as a snake, and I doubt she wants to stay that way forever."

"Just kiss her," Gray suggested. "You know, like the Princess and the Frog?"

Acnologia looked at Ur. "You should get your son's head checked out. Like…immediately."

"Hey!"

* * *

Two people stared at each other, across a table.

"So…." Laxus said awkwardly, still staring at Elle. "Um...Why did you grab all of that treasure?"

"I'm broke," the girl said, shrugging. "And it's shiny. Do I need more of a reason?"

"No…." Laxus said, trailing off uncomfortably.

The girl just stared at him. "Wow, you're socially awkward."

"Hey!" Laxus protested.

She shrugged. "I'll go first, but I don't exactly know what to tell you about me. I don't really remember much."

Laxus nodded. "I heard you talking about that with Erik."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's some hearing you've got there."

"Slayer side effect," Laxus explained.

Awkward silence descended again.

"So…" the girl said. "I think my name is Elle. And I'm obviously a wizard… Uh…Acno says it's Stellar Magic, but I don't really know what that is…"

Laxus rubbed his forehead. "You used Lightning Magic back during the fight, right?"

She nodded. "I can also use Light Magic and some other elements."

"Do you know the planets?" he asked.

Elle nodded. "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune…"

"I think you have something called Planetary Magic," Laxus said. "It's a type of Lost Stellar Magic that correlates-"

"Elements with different planets!" the girl gasped, her face lifting up, before letting out a wince and clutching her head.

"Hey, are you alright?" Laxus asked.

"My head…just hurts…" Elle said.

"Maybe you shouldn't _try_ to remember everything," Laxus said quietly.

Elle nodded, still rubbing her forehead. "Something tells me I'm better off not knowing."

Awkward silence descended once more.

"So…." Elle tried.

"So….." Laxus continued.

"How'd you become a dragon slayer?" she asked.

Laxus winced.

"Bad topic?" Elle sighed. "Let's see….how long have you been in the guild?"

Laxus winced again.

"Laxus, you need to help!" she scolded. " _Suggest_ a topic, if everything I come up with is bad. Tell me your favorite color."

Laxus shook his head. "No, you should probably know about those things... My dad caused me a lot of problems, and he's mostly what connects it all…"

* * *

"Where did Laxus and his girl go?" Gildarts asked.

"Give them some privacy!" Mari scolded, and he slumped.

"Yeah, they're having a pretty important conversation," Erik said quietly, trying to block it out. Maybe Freed could end up putting up runes around the whole guild? There were some things he shouldn't hear.

"But I wanna know more about her!" Gildarts whined.

"She'll be fourteen by May, likely the first week of May or the last week of April, she has a type of Lost Stellar Magic known as Planetary Magic, and her name is Eleanor Rigby."

Everyone turned to stare at Acnologia. "How do you know her name?" Erik asked. "Even she doesn't remember."

Acnologia snorted. "Oh, and apparently she has amnesia. As for the others…I recognize her magic, I can usually smell age through decaying cells, and I recognize her."

At more blank stares, he elaborated. "You see, as the human body starts to grow older, it-"

"We don't need a science lesson!" Erik yelled. "What do you mean, you _recognize_ her?"

"Not personally, or even by rumor," Acnologia said. "But her physical appearance and magic are a giveaway. The Rigby's are one of the Five Stellar Bloodlines, like the ones I mentioned before. Each of the Five Bloodlines specialize in a different type of Stellar Magic. The most well-known ones are the Heartfilia branch, where their last name is matriarchial and the Celestial Spirit Keys they own are usually passed down to the next daughter. They're always blonde, and their names tend to start with 'L'." _A tradition started by Anna when she named her niece Luna._ He tried to ignore the ache in his heart and continued on, jerking his head over at the infirmary. "The boy up there is probably from the next most well-known bloodline. The Fernandez Clan. That symbol on their face and their hair color tend to give them away. They also tend to have a lot of 'L's and 'A's in their names. They're well known for being Heavenly Body Mages. The other three bloodlines practice 'Lost Magic', which is why, if it isn't taught to them personally, they usually turn to Celestial Spirit Magic, though they sometimes shoot for Heavenly Body Magic. Since it's still Stellar, it's easier for them to adapt to if they can't learn their own bloodline. The Agurias are meant to embody the moon whose power they use; a type of Moon Magic that is now lost. Now, they tend to be Celestial Mages. They have whitish blue hair that reflects the sunlight and tend to have names that end in 'no', such as 'Tsukino'. "

"Now, the Rigby's, as well as everyone else, also have a few identifying features. As Planetary Mages, they are meant to 'embody the night skies'. Which is why the have pale skin and eyes like the moon. Their hair, when born, is so dark a purple it is almost black, supposedly meant to embody the 'darkness of the night'. However, that's obviously bullshit, because it tends to lighten as they get older. You can also tell how old Elle is because her hair color; it's a richer purple, and she's almost done maturing. It will stop getting lighter soon."

"Now, as for her name; the Rigby's tend to use names that end in the same sound; 'or'. The most common name for girls are Eleanor, Vor, and Dior. The most common for boys are Connor, Xavier, and Alistair. You told me her name was Elle; a classic nickname for Eleanor. Problem solved."

Everyone continued staring at him.

"Look, I already told you that Dragon Slayers end up hanging around a lot of Stellar Mages!" he barked. "I'm over _four hundred_! I've known _plenty_."

"You never told us that first part," Makarov said.

Acnologia sighed. "Laxus's mate is a practitioner of Stellar Magic, as is Erik's, if those body links to Celestial Magic are any sort of indication. Even if I didn't say it, you should've figured it out by now."

"He's got a point," Mari murmured.

Acnologia turned back to look at the guild hall. "Your boyfriend is waking up," he told Erza.

She blushed scarlet and ran off, towards the infirmary.

Makarov sighed. "I believe I will have to talk to Laxus about Jellal, Acno."

"Might as well gather the whole family," Acnologia snorted. "And the other two. It is about them, after all."

Makarov nodded and left for the building. Things were going to get more complicated.

* * *

Erik knocked on the door.

"Come in," Laxus shouted.

Across from Laxus, Elle raised an eyebrow. "You can tell who it is through the door?"

Laxus nodded.

"Hey Erik," Elle said, as he opened the door to see the two of them sitting across each other.

"Hey," Erik said, sighing. "Makarov wants a family meeting upstairs in the infirmary."

Laxus nodded and got up, heading towards the door. He paused to look back at Elle. "Are you coming?"

She blinked. "I thought it was a _family_ meeting."

"It is," Laxus gave her a soft smile. "You're a part of our family now."

She smiled and gave him a breathtaking smile, and for a second, Erik actually couldn't hear Laxus breathing.

He exited and went upstairs, knowing that the two behind him would catch up soon enough. "Hey Acno?" he asked the man, who was sitting down across from Jellal, who was now awake and very confused.

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to act like _that_ when we turn my mate back, am I?" Erik asked.

"It depends," Acnologia said. "Generally, if you meet before or after puberty, it won't really affect people the same way, though you'll still be drawn to them. Laxus should be okay by his birthday in November, since it's less than a year before he's seventeen. But you...well, you've had Cubellios for a long time; even since before you became a Slayer. So, there's a chance it won't be as bad as Laxus's is if she's not turned back until your fifteen. But there's also a large chance that it'll still be pretty bad."

"And it's from fifteen to seventeen?" he asked.

Acnologia nodded.

Erik looked at the snake on his shoulder. "We've got to find a way to turn you back before June then, because I don't want to go crazy for two years."

At least from the way that the snake nudged her head on him, it was clear she agreed.

"No promises," Acno grunted. "Still Stellar Magic."

Cubellios hissed at him.

He hissed back.

"What's going on?" Laxus asked, walking into the room with Elle beside him.

"We're just waiting on everyone else," Makarov said.

Levy was pushed into the room by Erza, and the doors closed behind her.

Around the room was Makarov, Porlyusica, Gildarts, Mari, Acnologia, Laxus, Cana, Erik, Elle, Jellal, and Levy.

Erza had disappeared, and was busy making sure that the Milkovich boys wouldn't interfere (a.k.a., eavesdrop).

"Before we make an announcement to the rest of the guild, we need a family conversation."

"Oh, right, you still don't have your stamp, do you?" Laxus asked, turning to Elle.

She shook her head.

"Later," Acno grunted. "This is serious, guys."

"Acno," Makarov said. "Would you like to explain?"

Acnologia grunted. "I can smell whether or not you're related. Everyone got that?"

They all nodded.

He pointed at Jellal. "This kid's father was Ivan."

" _What_ ," Laxus asked.

"And _this_ kid," he pointed at Levy. "Is related to this guy. Cousins, I think, but close enough for me to still smell the relation."

"Would we be able to tell?" Erik asked.

"That they're related? No." Acnologia shook his head. "Laxus might be able to sense that Jellal was his brother, but neither of you are strong enough or old enough to sense the relation between Levy and Jellal."

"Does this mean she's a Fernandes?" Erik asked.

"Technically."

"I thought you said that most have 'L's and 'A's," Gildarts said.

"Most _do_ ," he muttered. "The also have a few odder ones thrown in, like J," he gestured to Jellal, "or in this case, V. Plus, there's probably a chance that Levy isn't her full name, just a nickname. Her name is _probably_ Alevia."

"Olivia?" Cana asked.

"Ah-leh-vee-ah," Acno repeated, sounding it out for her.

"That's what I said," Cana protested.

Acnologia sighed. "Just forget it."

"I like my name," Levy said quietly.

"We're not saying that you should change it. Levy suits you better anyway," Mari reassured her, and she smiled.

"I'm sorry, _what_ is going _on_?" Jellal cried. "Why do I have all of these _memories_ in my head of doing horrible things? Where's Erza, Simon, Millianna, Sho, Wally and Grandpa Rob? I'm so _confused_!"

Acnologia sighed. " _How_ did we end up with _three_ of the Stellar bloodlines already with _no_ Celestial Spirit Mages?" he muttered, before turning to Jellal. "And the snake doesn't count!" he shouted over his shoulder as Erik's mouth opened. "I'll only explain this once, so pay attention."

Jellal nodded, looking at Acnologia almost desperately.

"Awhile back, when you were being tortured after Erza in the Tower of Heaven," Jellal flinched. "You ended up getting possessed by 'Zeref'." Acno made air quotes. "Not the real Zeref, though, just a fake. Anyway, under the influence of _possession_ , you did some shitty things, kid. You hurt Erza and started some sort of weird pseudo-war. Because of Erik, here," he gestured to Erik, "who read Erza's mind-"

" _Soul_ ," Erik muttered.

"I found out about it and destroyed the R-System, while also breaking you free of your possession. Congratulations."

Jellal was crying. "E…Erza…?"

Elle teleported away and returned a few seconds later with Erza.

When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "What? He obviously needed her. Duh. And my magic has recovered quickly enough for a quick teleportation."

After he finally finished crying, it was (again) explained to Jellal that he was a Dreyar now (though he could still go by Fernandez, if he wanted to) and that he was related to all of them in some way, shape or form. Including through marriage.

"Alright, I'm leaving now," Acnologia said, getting up.

"What?" Makarov asked. "Where are you going? It's time to party!"

"It's always time to party when the guild's involved," Acno responded. "And I need to visit a friend to see if I can get little miss snaky over there back into a human."

Cubellios hissed at him, and he rolled his eyes and left.

* * *

 **My full explanation for Kinana is in my most recent chapter of Ripples (98), but a summed up version is that she's one of Neville's Celestial Spirit Mages, and she lost her Celestial Spirit Magic when she lost her link to the Clock, just like everyone else. Except she her link was severed when she got turned back into a human, and since the Body Link was put on her _before_ she turned into a snake, it has to be undone before she was turned back; otherwise she'll have bad side effects. Like losing her memories.**

 **I'm also not the only one to do a Jellal and Levy relation. I don't remember which fanfic it was (I read way too many) but one of them (a few of them?) had Jellal and Levy as siblings. In this one they're cousins. And yes, this will be in Ripples, too. Eventually.**

 **If you haven't read Ripples, but have the ability to count, you'll notice that Acno only spoke of _four_ bloodlines, even though there is five.**

 **He'll be visiting the last bloodline now. :D. And you'll get some more painful flashbacks.**


	10. Chapter Ten - A Conversation Among Kings

**Yo! So the Levy and Jellal related thing is from Celestial Mage Wanted by Chefbabe on Fanfiction! It's been awhile since I read the story, so I got confused. Sorry!**

 **The turning into a dragon thing comes from Acnologia Is Not Your Father by Evilkitten3 on Fanfiction. If you like that one, I suggestion you also check out The Fiore Laws by Zorua101, also on Fanfiction. I found both extremely entertaining.**

 **Also it's not fully explained, but IN CANON, Jellal is able to wield the four 'main' elements; he can cast Abyss Break, which can _only_ be cast if all four elements (Earth, Air, Water and Fire) are present.**

 **And, those of you from Ripples, I know you'll be upset to hear this, but Ame is dead. Sorry. Also, I'll be taking a break after this chapter, but when we get back, you guys get Dragon Slayers! (Like the ones through the gate, not the ones you have now).**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten – A Conversation Among Kings**

" _Do you have some sort of anti-derangement medication? If so, you might wish to take it."_ _  
_ _―_ _Katie MacAlister_ _,_ _Dragon Fall_

* * *

"Move," he said to the guard.

"Who are you?" the guard asked.

"Someone who could kill everyone in this city in five seconds flat. The fact that I haven't done so already proves that I'm in a good mood. Don't make it a bad one."

The guard gulped.

"Let him through!" a voice called, and they both turned to the girl running to the entrance.

"Hello, Acno," she said breathlessly, messing with her windswept hair and fluttering her eyes at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I need to speak with the old man."

She nodded and lead him into a room where he sat down, and then the secretary sat at her desk and went through some papers.

Less than a minute later, Acnologia was not happy.

He banged on the counter top and the woman jumped. "Listen, Susan-"

" _Stephanie_."

"Whatever. I need to see him. Now."

"I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to wait with everyone else," she said.

Acnologia leaned forward. "So help me, Sarah, if you do not get me to him _immediately_ , I will turn into a dragon. Right. _Now_."

"But we're inside…" she protested. "You won't fit…"

"Exactly," Acnologia said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"I'm pretty sure that counts as terrorism," she muttered, picking up the phone.

"It is," Acno said blankly, staring her down.

She gulped and clutched the phone tighter. "I can't make it ring any faster, Acnologia!"

"I don't care," Acno said. "This makes you uncomfortable."

She glared at him before stiffening as she realized what she did and went back to cowering with the phone. Finally, someone on the other end picked up.

"A-Acnologia to see you, sir," she stammered.

"I understand," the voice said. "Send him up."

She turned to tell Acno but he was already leaving. "See you, Sophie."

" _Stephanie_ ," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

"I need some of your books," Acnologia said to the tiny man.

He sighed. "Follow me."

The short man (who was still actively shrinking with age) got up from the table and headed over to the family library. "Is there any reason why?"

"There's a girl who's Body-Linked through Stellar Magic, and I need to break it," Acnologia grunted. "Probably one of Neville's."

The smaller man nodded. "And you'll be reversing the Body Link?"

"Yes," Acnologia said. "I hope that _damned_ Clock doesn't become a problem again."

"The Infinity Clock is real?"

"As real as the Eclipse Gate in the basement."

"Ah," the shorter man said. "So real but treated as myth."

"The less people who know, the better, yes."

They entered a large private library and the small man moved to a desk, opening a slot behind it and pulling out a few books. "These should do the trick. The real question is, will you be able to cast it?"

Acnologia grunted. "More like, 'Will my guild ever let me get a moment of rest when they find out that I can cast Stellar Magic?'"

"How long has it been?" the man asked as Acnologia started flipping through the book.

"Over four hundred years," Acnologia muttered, stopping. "Yes, this will work."

"Even though it's not technically from your line?"

Acno snorted. "Listen, Mato-"

" _Toma._ Please stop scrambling it."

"You know as well as I do that all of the Five Bloodlines are attuned to all types of Stellar Magic. I can cast this as well as a Heartfilia could. I might not be a part of your line, but I'll still be able to cast it, alright Toto?"

The smaller man sighed, muttering, "I think I preferred Mato."

"Daddy?" a small voice said, and a small green-headed girl peeked around the corner. "Who's this?"

The man tensed a bit, glancing between Acnologia and the child.

Acno glared at him. "The amount of trust you have in me is smaller than _you."_

The smaller man (who was still around five and a half feet, but would probably be somewhere around Makarov's size when he finished shrinking) looked away guiltily. "Hisui, this is a friend."

The little girl ran forward, and Acno got a better look at the girl. She was closer to four than three, her birthday probably in four or five months in late July or early August.

"Nice to meet you, Mister!" Hisui said happily, and then, to both men's complete horror, started chattering their ears off. As she continued to talk over everything, she also raised her arms to Acnologia, asking to be picked up.

Toma tensed up, but Acno ignored it and picked up Hisui, who giggled as she looked down at her father from Acno's shoulder.

As she continued talking, Acno looked at the shorter man. "She has more than you."

"Magic?" Toma asked. "Yes. I am unsure, as I have not spent much time with any others of the Bloodlines lately, so I do not know if the newest of their generation are that strong. But I believe that something is coming."

Acnologia sighed. "Yes. It is. And they are."

Hisui had quieted down. "Are you leaving, Mister?"

"Acnologia," Acno said. "You can call me Acno. The kids in my guild tend to call me Uncle. And yes, I will be returning to my guild sometime soon."

She pouted as Acno lowered her to the ground. "Bye, Uncle Acno! It was nice meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you to, Jadia," Acno said, ruffling her hair.

Acnologia sighed. "Thank you, Toma."

The King nodded, and Acno let himself out.

"What's Jay-dee-ah?" the little girl asked behind him.

"It's another form of Jade," her father said as he watched the dragon leave. "The translation for your name."

* * *

"Um, Mr. Acnologia…"

Acno slammed his mug down on the bar, upset that his break from studying was interrupted. "Damn, kid, just call me Uncle Acno like the rest of them."

Jellal Fernandez shifted uncomfortably in the dragon's presence. "You sure? You don't seem to like me very much…"

Acnologia sighed and picked up his coffee. "Sit, kid."

Still nervous, Jellal sat down on the stool next to him.

Acno continued to make him anxious by taking a long drink from his mug. "It's not necessarily _you_ …you just bring up memories I'd rather forget. Since you're a Stellar Wizard."

"Uh…" Jellal's gaze moved over to Elle, who was doing _something_ on a table.

Acno would say it was dancing, but that's only because he'd seen a Rigby dance before.

No one else would call it that.

"Rigby get your ass off the table!" Acnologia bellowed. "No one wants to see you dance."

" _That's dancing_?" Laxus asked in horror.

"You're supposed to be on my side, asshole!" Elle yelled, tackling her mate.

Acno sighed.

"You don't seem to bothered as much by Elle," Jellal pointed out. "Or Levy."

"Levy isn't the Heir," Acno grunted. "And Rigby's crazy enough that it doesn't affect me as much."

Though, since crazy _is_ a Rigby trait, it still brought out _some_ memories - but it still wasn't the same, since they didn't do the same things.

"Heir?" Jellal asked. "Does that have anything to do with Levy missing the clan mark on her face?"

Acnologia nodded.

"What do you mean by that?" Jellal asked.

Acnologia sighed. He should've known better. There was no such thing as peace in this guild.

" **Oi, brats!** " he roared.

Everything stopped.

Acno inwardly smirked as he took another sip of his coffee, letting everyone tense up. He let out a sigh of contentment and put the mug back on the bar. "If you want to know more about Stellar Wizards, you should come here. I'm not going to explain it more than once."

The kids all shifted closer, but it didn't seem to matter. The guild was quiet, and everyone was staring at him.

He sighed.

"Alright, so let me explain something. Not everyone from a Stellar Bloodline practices their bloodline's magic as this primary magic. Hell, even Miss Medusa here is likely descended from the Fernandez and Rigby line, but she's still a Celestial Mage."

Cubellios hissed from Erik's shoulder.

" _But_ …the first born is almost always guaranteed to specialize in that magic. There's a spell on the lines that demand it. So the firstborn child will almost always look the same. In some cases, like the Heartfilia branch, they're also always female, which is why they became matriarchal. When I described what people of the bloodline generally look like, I mean the ones that practice their own magic, because they become easily identifiable. For instance…Laxus. Rigby."

"Yeah?" Laxus asked. Elle was still half on top of him, having frozen from trying to...rip out his hair? Scratch out his eyes? Frozen from doing _something_ she probably shouldn't, when Acno had pulled everything to a halt.

"Your first kid is gonna look exactly like Elle, though it's gender is still up for grabs."

The two of them turned extremely red, and Elle fell off of the dragon slayer. She popped back up and stood next to him, and they avoided each other's eyes.

Freed hissed, " _Wench,_ " from somewhere unseen.

"They'll also have Planetary Magic as their primary. After your firstborn, though, the magic and genes are up for grabs. They could be blonde or dragon slayers or whatever. Now, there is a _chance_ – it's a small chance though – that your first child might have a different primary magic. Even if that's true though, as the firstborn, they'll still have all of the Rigby traits; the dark hair and shiny eyes. In that case, the _second_ born will have all the Rigby traits as well, _and_ Planetary Magic. That only happens once a century, though, so you shouldn't worry too much about it…"

His gaze moved to Jellal. "You're considered the 'First Born' of the Fernandez Clan. While Levy is related to you, it's through a sister branch, so while she can probably get Heavenly Body Magic as her secondary, she won't specialize in it (though every once in awhile, you _do_ have a mage who does). The clan mark on your face; that sigil declares you as the Heir. All Bloodlines had one, though as far as I know, yours is the still one that actively does it. And another thing; it proves you didn't go crazy of your own will."

"In the Tower?" Jellal asked quietly.

Acnologia nodded. "If you had truly lost it, the clan mark would've faded; passed on to the next person, which would probably be Levy. The fact that it's still there is proof that it wasn't your fault."

He looked down.

"I had a mark?" Elle asked softly.

His gaze moved back to the girl who (while still redder than Laxus), was slowly turning her normal color.

Acnologia nodded. "Your line _did,_ in the past, but _you_ won't. The only one who can place it on the Heir (which is the only one it can be placed on, actually) would be a person of higher statue or a parent. For instance, with Jellal, he was probably marked by the Heir of the previous generation, or the one before that if he was still in power and strong enough. If neither were there, it was probably done by his mother."

"It was my mom," Jellal said quietly. "It was only the two of us. She said that she was estranged from her sister at some point..."

"Which was probably Levy's mother," Acno finished up. "Then there's Neville's family line."

Cubellios hissed, and Acnologia ignored her, and continued. "The branch that Cubellios is a part of came from a Fernandez kid that married a Rigby; they aren't really even considered 'Fernandez' or 'Rigby's anymore, but rather completely split off into their own branch, almost. You can date back their ancestry, yeah, and match it with yours and Elle's, but that's all that you share. Well, that and Stellar Magic."

Acno took another deep sip from his coffee, sighing in contentment. "Then there's also the closeness of lines."

"What do you mean by that?" Levy asked.

"I might have mentioned it before, by the Agurias were really close to the Heartfilias, and the Rigby's were very close with the Fernandez. Which is why it's easy for some of them to learn each other's magics. For instance, that's one reason why Levy is so skilled in Solid Script Magic. She can easily form different elements because of the connection with Planetary Magic. If Jellal was to try, he could easily learn how to control the elements."

"So I could learn Heavenly Body Magic?" Elle asked.

Acnologia nodded. "Though I highly doubt you'd need it. The advanced levels of all Stellar Magic are versatile as hell."

But Anna was the only one he'd ever seen hit that level for Celestial Spirit Magic.

"I'm not gonna," Elle said, shaking her head. "I just think it's interesting..."

"You should focus on mastering your own magic," Acno rolled his eyes. "You still have a long ways to go, before you're done with Planetary Spells. Now..." he stood up, leaving his cup on the table. "I'm leaving."

He turned and made his way out the door, hearing Jellal call, "Thanks, Uncle Acno!" on his way out.

He ignored the way his heart clenched painfully and took to the sky, transforming into his dragon shape.

He needed to think.

* * *

There had been a few things that Acno hadn't mentioned while explaining.

The Fiore Royal Family specialized in Sun Spells. Since all of the five Bloodlines come from certain people in particular, some are closer to some bloodlines than others – that was true. For instance, the Rigby and Fernandez clans are both linked, though they're so separately related that the two could reproduce together, which was how Neville's line was born. Heartfilias and Agurias were also close, and the Agurias turned to Celestial Spirits when their magic became Lost, as their magic (which got it's power from the moon) already reflected the sun, which is a star, anyway. As for the Royal Family – they helped bridge the two. While they nowadays used Celestial Spirits, just as the Heartfilias and Agurias, they also used Sun Spells; magic that specializes in the sun as the way the Agurias specialize in the moon. The Fiorans were closer linked to Heavenly Body Magic, with the way that Sun Spells are used.

But the thing that struck him out was the firstborn.

 _Generally_ , both the Heartfilias and Agurias Heirs are born female. The Fernandez Heir is generally male.

But then there was the Royal Family – which was a toss up, and the Rigby's.

That's what really worried him.

The Rigby's were well known for having a set of twins as their Heirs, one twin generally specializing in half of the elements while the other one complemented them.

Eleanor was alone – as far as he could tell, she didn't necessarily 'specialize' ( _jack of all trades, master of none…_ ); he hadn't seen or sensed any real precision when it came to one element over the others, just a normal level of control for a Rigby Mage. But if she did turn out to specialize…

Just where was her twin?

He sighed, turning his thoughts to the girl turned snake.

After a week of practicing, he had gotten closer and closer to finally mastering the spell for Cubellios, after practicing Stellar Magic again after _four hundred years_. But it was difficult.

Four hundred years ago...

Doing the spell brought up harsh memories.

Four hundred years ago, it was just the five of them; well...

Technically six, but Veratis was always busy, ruling the kingdom, and all.

But the five of them…Anna, Him, Tsukino, and Connor and Dior.

This all brought back memories he'd rather forget.

And it wasn't _just_ that he was about to use Stellar Magic again, it was that there was a Rigby and two of the Fernandez Clan running around outside, and that a few cities away, a Celestial Mage laid in wait.

Everyone's identifying features _didn't change_. They _never_ changed. Which is why all of the kids look so similar to their ancestors, so many years ago.

It's why it hurt so much.

And then...then Jellal had called him 'Uncle Acno'.

And that's probably what hurt the worst.

Because if he had never been expelled from the clan, that's what he would've been, too.


	11. Chapter Eleven - A Year to Remember

**Finally, the long awaited chapter! Sorry, I've kinda been pulled kicking and screaming (but mostly crying) back into the Percy Jackson fandom. In order to stay concentrated on Fairy Tail, I've created a fanfiction of Fairy Tail in the Percy Jackson world, and it's in the crossover section if you want to read it. No knowledge of Percy Jackson is required (but it'd probably be more enjoyable). Sorry about that, so these updates will probably stall a bit.**

 **As for the chapter: I have _absolutely no idea_ why God Serena ended up so much like Maes Hughes. He just kinda did. And while Elle will not have the same close relationships as she does in Ripples, there are two I couldn't help but throw in.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven - A Year To Remember**

" _Someone needs to drag you kicking and screaming into this century."_

― _Christine Feehan, Dark Prince_

* * *

The rest of X777 had not been fun, for several reasons.

For one, _apparently_ , after he had left to contemplate, Laxus had gotten upset about 'destiny' again, and so took Erik and Elle with him on an S Class mission.

So when Acno returned, it was to Freed crying on the ground over being left behind.

"You need to get over this," Acnologia told him, before turning to the other kids. "Did Erik leave Cubellios behind?"

They nodded.

He made his way out back to Cubellios's 'special' rock and grabbed a blanket from the storage room.

Outside, he performed the spell, and as Cubellios turned back into a human, he threw the blanket on top of her nude body.

He got her clothes from Erza and lead her inside, ready for a surprise for Erik when the three mages returned.

Erik wasn't the only one in for a shock.

* * *

" _What_ the _hell_?" Acnologia sputtered. "Where did _she_ come from?"

The small girl curled into Elle's chest.

Elle shielded her protectively. "Leave her alone, Acno."

He turned to Erik and Laxus, who would at least answer his questions. " _Where_?"

"Um…the neighboring city?" Erik asked, scratching his head nervously.

 _"Why?"_ Acnologia asked.

The boys turned to look at Elle.

"I'm not giving her back."

Acno closed his eyes and counted to ten. "Listen, Rigby, you can't just… _take_ children."

Erik muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'you did' but Acno ignored it (which was probably better for Erik).

"She doesn't have anyone," Elle hissed, propping the little girl up on her hip. "I'm not going to _leave her alone_. She's like…two."

"Actually, she's four, but that doesn't matter," Acnologia said, sighing.

"I'm not putting her back."

"You should listen to Acnologia-sama!" Freed burst in, glaring at Elle.

 _Since when do I get a '-sama'_ , Acno thought.

"Shut up, you're like twelve," Elle said.

Acnologia sighed, bringing everyone's attention back to the problem at hand. "Do you even know her name?"

"Her name doesn't matter!" Elle hugged the girl tighter. "What matters is that she's scared and sad and all alone and I'm not just going to abandon her!"

"I give up," Acnologia turned, and started walking away.

"Hmph," he heard her say behind him, before turning to the girl to ask, "What's your name?"

"Yu…Yukino," the little girl whispered.

" _Four_ ," he muttered under his breath. "Four from the bloodlines, and still no Celestial Mages."

Raising his voice as he left, he shouted, "And NO MORE S-CLASS FOR YOU, LAXUS."

"What? Why the hell not?" Laxus shouted.

"Because you've returned with a Stellar Wizard each time," Acno said, sweeping out of the guild.

* * *

Erik had been happy about Cubellios – or rather _Kinana_ 's – change to human form, and spent awhile just spending time with her, also glad that she had turned back before he hit the 'crazy' stage of his puberty.

Acnologia spent most of his time avoiding anyone's questions about how Kinana got changed back, and rather took several decade and century quests to keep him busy.

They ran out of them within two weeks.

And of course, while he was gone, because _why the fuck not_ , Eleanor Rigby had kidnapped another child.

He glared down at her. " _Another_ one?"

She glared up at him.

The girl hid behind Elle. "Onee-sama, he's scary!"

Elle crossed her arms. "Leave her alone, Acno."

He rubbed his forehead. "Please put her back."

"She doesn't _have_ to take her back," Laxus said, crossing his arms and standing next to Elle.

"Of course, you take her side," Acno muttered under his breath.

"Laxus does have a point, though," Erik said. "There's the protection act that was passed a few years ago."

"The what?" Elle asked.

"The Mage's Charter for Magical Children. It was a law that was passed that says if a kid was being abused or mistreated because of their magic, a member of an approved guild could take them away."

Elle blinked. "Fairy Tail is _approved_?"

Acno snorted. "They have to let us; we're still technically a legal guild, despite our level of property damage. Fine, you can keep her."

The little girl beamed at him, and he felt his heart melt a little.

"Come on, Juvia," Elle said, leading the ten-year-old to Fairy Hills. "Let's get you situated."

This was getting ridiculous.

What were they, a magical orphanage?

* * *

The answer, apparently, was 'yes'.

Five more children came in July.

"Hey, Acno, buddy!"

"WHAT the FUCK?" Acnologia asked, staring down at the biggest annoyance in his life. "Get out of my house."

"You don't have a house, Acno!"

"My cave then. _Leave_."

The man (boy, really) hesitated, and a shiver of dread climbed up of Acno's spine. " _What_?" Acnologia snapped.

God Serena nervously rubbed the back of his head. "You…can't really live here anymore."

Acnologia had gone very, very still. "I'm going to give you thirty seconds, Serena, to have a reasonable explanation, or the Ten Wizard Saint will be down one member."

"The Council sent me!" Serena blurted. "They need you to raise five kids!"

" _What_?" Acno said. He did not squeak. Absolutely not.

Yeah, the kids in the guild were one thing, but HE CAN'T RAISE CHILDREN.

"They're dragon slayers," Serena continued.

"So what, that means I need to fucking raise them? What about you, you're a damn slayer!"

"Well, I am only twenty," Serena deadpanned. "And I'm also busy. Council stuff, you know."

Acno's stare did not waver. "And tell me, _why did the Council implant several children without my_ _ **permission**_ _? Or even_ _ **knowledge**_ _?_ "

He may have possibly slipped into Ancient Draconic in those sentences, but it didn't matter.

"They aren't."

He paused. "What."

"They aren't. Implants, that is. They're…real slayer children. Raised by dragons and stuff."

"I am the only dragon alive."

"Yes. But they're not from this time."

Acno's heart froze. "The _Gate_. They used the Eclipse Gate?"

"Well, yes and no. They were sent through time from around four hundred years ago…"

Acnologia couldn't hear him anymore. The world turned static-y as he made the connections. Anna died, helping Zeref with a project. Zeref, who created the Eclipse Gate, which _runs on Celestial Magic_.

"ACNO!" Serena shouted, bringing him out of his mind.

Acnologia instantly punched him in the face.

"Ow, what the hell, Acno?"

"What? It was instinct."

"It's instinct to punch someone in the face if you're scared?" Serena asked, rubbing his nose.

Acnologia snorted. "No. It's instinct to punch people who annoy me in the face."

"Well, that makes me feel great," Serena grumbled sarcastically. "I smell blood, Acno. Did you scratch me?"

Acno looked at him dismissively. "It's barely a scratch. Don't be such a baby."

"MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!" Serena wailed, wiping blood off the new cut on his nose.

" _Why_ do I subject myself to this?" Acno muttered to himself.

"Because you love me!" Serena said, throwing out his arms. "But about the kids…"

Acnologia stared at him, before horror dawned on his face. "You're _serious_."

Serena nodded.

"I may train the little bastards, so they don't break too much, but I can't raise them. I'M NOT A PARENT."

"You're an Alpha," Serena pointed out, and Acno glared at him. "What? It's true. Anyway, right now they're staying at the palace. The council is already going to pay off a house for you all to live in."

"What? What about my cave? Why can't I keep it?"

"Because you can't raise five children in a cave," Serena said.

"Why not?" Acnologia asked. "They were all raised by dragons, they'll probably freak out if they see a house anyway. Caves are _normal_ to them."

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Acnologia, it's _X777_. It's time someone makes you realize what century this is, and if I have to be the one pulling you into it, kicking and screaming, then so be it."

* * *

Acno told himself that they couldn't be _too_ young; after all, they were old enough to be trained.

He was wrong.

The oldest was thirteen, which was good, and the second oldest was ten, which was around the end of the range he was expecting.

The other three were _five_.

He stared at them in horror. "How long did these brats even _spend_ with their dragons?"

The pink haired ten-year-old lit up. Literally, lit up. Like a match. He was on fire.

"Do you know Igneel?!" He shouted excitedly.

"…You could say that," Acnologia said neutrally.

If 'viciously trying to kill the other' counted as 'know' then yeah, he knew him.

"Do you know where he is?" he continued.

"No."

"Don't get why you care so much. They abandoned us," the oldest said. Even if he couldn't already smell everyone dragons on them, it was obvious who had raised him. Even now, he already had several piercings.

The second shoved his face in the eldest's. "SHUT UP! Igneel wouldn't abandon me! He wouldn't!"

"Then why isn't he _here_?"

" _ **Silence**_ **.** "

They all shut up. Good.

Acno was rubbing his head. Not even a minute in, and he already had a headache.

"Let me get this straight," Acno said slowly. "All of your dragons disappeared at once?"

The two youngest boys shook their heads while the other three nodded.

"You may speak," he directed at the youngest two. "What happened to your dragons?"

At that, the two youngest burst into tears, and so did the other five year old, the only female of the group. And then the two oldest started fighting again.

Well, if Ancient Draconian didn't really work the first time…

"IF WE DON'T GET THROUGH THIS, THEN NO FLYING."

Everyone shut up.

"Flying?" the oldest asked, still having the pink-haired one in a headlock. "What do you mean, flying?"

Acnologia stared at them. "My name is Acnologia. I am not only a Dragon Slayer, I am also known as the Chaos Dragon, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse."

Still not moving…. "You're a dragon?" The blonde five-year-old asked.

"Yes," Acnologia said. He was taking a risk here, mentioning flying, but Mavis had always loved flying on his back, and so did Laxus. With luck, these kids have experienced it once and would like to again. "And if you want a ride on my back, we're going to finish getting this sorted out."

Silence. Then -

"See, you're doing _fine_ …" Serena said.

"I am severely tempted to punch you halfway across Fiore right now," Acnologia said. "So shut up if you want to stay in Magnolia for more than two seconds."

Serena shut up, but was still smiling like a loon.

Acnologia turned back at the kids, who were all staring at him. "Sit down. I want each of the two oldest ones on opposite ends, and the girl in the middle."

There was shuffling, until finally, from left to right, there was the pink haired one, the blonde one, the blunette girl, the black haired one, and the one with piercings.

"First, give me your damn names," he said. "And how long you've trained with your dragon." He gestured to the first one.

"I'm Natsu!" the pinkette said. "Natsu Dragneel! And I was with Igneel for…uh…since I was four!"

Acnologia took a deep breath. "That's SIX. You were with him for SIX years, TEN minus FOUR is SIX."

The boy cocked his head. "How'd you know I was ten?"

"I can smell your decaying cells."

No one seemed to get it.

"I can tell how…." _Close you are to dying? No, he couldn't say that._ "…how old you are."

He looked at the second one, the five-year-old blond. "And you?"

"I'm Sting Eucliffe," the boy said quietly. "And…around two or three years…"

"I'm W-Wendy Marvel," the (still) crying blunette said from next to him. "And…and I was…with Grandeneey…" she burst into heavy sobs.

Acnologia sighed and looked at the next kid.

"Rogue Cheney. Two years."

And the last one…

"Gajeel Redfox. Seven."

He nodded, before glancing at the three youngest. Their dragons had gotten to them _young_. If you were training by age, you _should_ start around the ages of four to eight. Ten at the most – any longer and you need to wait for them to be the proper age for lacrima insertion.

He looked back at the two youngest boys. "And what happened to Weisslogia and Skiadrum? Sting, you're first?"

He started sniffling. "Weisslogia said that since I was a dragon slayer, I need to kill him to finish my training. So…." He burst into tears again.

Acnologia looked at Rogue. "And Skiadrum?"

Rogue looked down. "He was sick…and since he was going to die, he wanted me to gain something from it…"

Acno rubbed his forehead. His head was hurting again.

"But either way, you were all _separated_ from them on the same day?"

All five nodded.

He stared at all of them. "First things first, I _don't know_ where your parents are. For now, _I'm_ going to be making sure you're alright. _But_ , I do know that whatever it was must have been serious, otherwise they wouldn't have all left on the same day." And he focused his gaze on Sting and Rogue. "And Skiadrum and Weisslogia aren't dead." Probably.

Maybe.

Hope shown in both boys' eyes. "They're not?"

"No. Skiadrum's excuse is a bit believable, but tell me something, Sting. You've had…how many years training with Weisslogia?"

"Two or three."

"And how many years have Natsu and Gajeel had with their dragons?"

"Six and seven?"

Acnologia stared at him. Sting still didn't get it.

He sighed. "So _why_ do you think you're going to be done with your training in less than half the time when _they're_ not even done?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Sting said, drawing it out.

"As for Skiadrum," Acno's eyes passed to Rogue. "He should've been fine. There was no sort of sickness about him since I last heard, anyway. But if the other three dragons had to leave, and Weisslogia decided his slayer was going to 'slay' him so he could join them, then Skiadrum would've planned something out with his own slayer. Those two were best friends."

Both boys brightened and exchanged excited glances.

"Now as I said," Acno continued. "They wouldn't have left if it wasn't important, but the fact that they all left _together_ means they probably didn't _want_ to leave you."

He didn't say they would come back…because these kids were from four hundred years in the past, and even though those five dragons had pretty much disappeared around the time of Anna's death, that didn't mean they'd ever return. They could very likely be dead by now, especially since Acnologia hadn't sensed any active dragons for over a hundred years.

They would've had to put themselves into a type of hibernation, essentially, to go under the radar.

"Alright!" Serena said happily. "Now that that's settled, why don't you go into town and get-"

"Absolutely not!" Acno boomed. He took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. "In addition to their young age, their magic is still unstable. Gajeel's the only one I would even _consider_ taking into civilization. No, for now…" he sighed. "Serena, go back to the guild, grab Erik and Laxus, and come back here. Might as well throw a slayer party. And tell them to _leave their mates behind_."

"Does that mean I get to stay?" Serena asked eagerly.

"It means you _have_ to stay. Face it, Serena, you didn't gain the title of a Wizard Saint because of your precision. You got it because you were good at breaking shit."

Serena grumbled and started walking away.

"What's a Wizard Saint?" Gajeel asked.

"An extremely strong wizard with a magical title awarded by the Council, a magical union of people that govern the laws of magic in society. There are only ten of them on Ishgar; the entire continent."

Most of it seemed to go over their heads, but… "So he must be pretty strong, then? I wanna fight him!" Natsu shouted excitedly.

"Yes, he is considered extremely strong; no you cannot fight him," Acnologia said.

"Are you a Wizard Saint?" Gajeel asked.

Acnologia snorted. "No. They can't give titles of wizardry to a Dragon. They just declared me the most powerful being on the continent and left it at that, before those idiots found some way or other to overcomplicate it."

"Does the council overcomplicate things a lot?" Rogue asked softly. Most of their heads shifted towards the quiet boy.

"Yes," Acnologia said. "They're not the smartest, either. There's also the fact that they're not too fond of my guild, either…"

"Guild?" Gajeel asked.

Acno nodded. "I'm part of a wizard's guild; a place where mages gather to share work and form bonds. And…" he made a face. "If I will truly be raising you, in its entirety, then you should probably join too."

"Cool!" Natsu said.

Acnologia sighed. "Do you all know how to eat your elements?"

The youngest ones nodded.

Gajeel snorted. "How _wouldn't_ you know how to eat your element?"

"Your element is Iron," Acno said. "Which means yours is _physical_. Not everyone's is. Most elements are a type of plasma, or air; it's not solid or liquid. Tell me, Gajeel, how would you eat fire, or shadow, or air?"

"Or lightning?" came another voice.

Serena waltzed back up again, with Laxus and Erik by his side.

"Okay, I get the point," Gajeel muttered. "It's not easy for everyone."

Kinana walked next to Erik, and Elle was on Laxus's back, hugging him as he hiked up.

"Why am I doing this again?" he muttered.

"So you can get stronger," Elle pointed out.

"I think you're just lazy," Laxus said.

"I can teleport."

"I thought I told you to have them leave their mates behind, Serena," Acno said.

Serena shrugged. "They didn't listen, and…well, I didn't want to drag the two away from their mates. After all…I'm good at breaking shit."

He smirked.

Acno glared at the girls. "Leave."

Kinana turned to go, but Elle grabbed the back of Kinana's dress to keep her in place. "No."

The two stared at each other, clashing, before Serena jumped in, saying, "So, why don't we start by-"

Acnologia punched him in the face.

"Ow! What the hell Acno!"

"Instinct," Acnologia deadpanned. He glared at the girls but rolled his eyes. Elle smirked, and Kinana jumped with joy and hugged her mate.

Acno rolled his eyes. "Alright, introductions."

"Oh, just steal what _I_ was going to-"

Acno broke Serena's nose again. "I am the Alpha. Shut it. Now, did you introduce yourself to the guild?"

Serena nodded, wincing as he shifted his bone back into place. "Yes, and I'll continue again. I am God Serena, the most-"

"That's enough. Rigby, you go," Acnologia said to Elle.

She rolled her eyes, still hanging onto Laxus, before hopping down. "Hi guys. My name is Elle. Eleanor Rigby, I'm fourteen, and I have a magic called Planetary Magic."

"Why are you here?" Gajeel asked.

Elle's eyes flashed, and she stared the younger boy down – even though, at fourteen, she was only a year older than Gajeel, Gajeel was extremely small for his age.

"Because I fucking want to be," she hissed.

Acno rolled his eyes. "Because she's Laxus's mate. Speaking of, Laxus?"

Laxus nodded. "My name is Laxus Dreyar. I'm sixteen years old, a Lightning Dragon Slayer, and an S Class Mage of Fairy Tail."

"What does that mean?" Natsu asked hyperly.

"It means I can kick your ass," Laxus said.

He burst into flames from excitement. "FIGHT ME, LAXUS!"

Elle leaned over the child and glared at him. " _Sit_ and behave, or no fire food."

Natsu stopped. "Food?"

Elle held up her hand, and a flame appeared in it. "Fooooooood," she said enticingly.

Natsu sat, his fire gone. "I'll listen."

Elle nodded. "You'll get it when we're done."

Natsu pouted, but everyone else continued.

"That's not going to work forever," Acno heard Laxus mutter into her ear.

"I know, but it'll give me time to find another way to keep him under control. Something tells me he'll be more destructive than Gildarts if we can't get him to behave."

"I'm Erik," Erik said. "I'm fifteen and the Poison Dragon Slayer. This is Kinana, my mate."

He gestured to the smaller girl tucked into his side.

"Hi," she said softly. "I'm twelve."

"Hi," Wendy said back, shyly.

"I'M NATSU DRAGNEEL!" Natsu yelled excitedly, bursting into flames.

"Put yourself out, _now_ ," Acnologia told him.

Natsu pouted, but calmed down enough to be smoking. "I'm Natsu and I'm ten!"

"He's fire, obviously," Gajeel said, rolling his eyes. "I'm Gajeel Redfox, and I'm thirteen. I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer."

"I'm Sting!" Sting shouted excitedly. "Sting Eucliffe! And I'm…uh…I'm…"

"Five," Acnologia said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're _five_."

"And I'm five! Oh, and I'm the White Dragon Slayer!"

"Rogue Cheney," Rogue said. "The Shadow Dragon Slayer. I am also five."

Acnologia snorted. Figures, that Skiadrum would actually teach his son manners and math, and Weisslogia would let his run wild.

Everyone's eyes shifted to look at Wendy, the only one who hasn't introduced herself.

She yelped and tried to hide behind Natsu, who was the closest.

"You're up," Acno told her.

"Don't be mean!" Elle scolded. "She's just a kid."

"Don't be a pain in the ass!" Acnologia said to Elle.

While the two of them were arguing, Kinana approached Wendy and held out her hand. "Hi. You're Wendy, right?"

Slowly, Kinana coaxed Wendy out from Natsu and got her ready to introduce her to the group.

Acno and Elle were still fighting, and everyone was watching their argument.

" _HEY_!" Kinana yelled, and everyone shut up, surprised to hear such a loud noise come from the normally quiet and peaceful girl. "That's enough! Wendy is going to introduce herself now."

Everyone turned to look at Wendy again.

"A-ano…" the girl stammered. "I'm…Wendy…and I'm five. I'm the Sky Dragon Slayer. And…" she walked up to Serena and tugged his shirt.

The man leaned down. "Yes, Wendy."

Wendy put her hand to his face and healed his broken nose. "H-here, Serena-sama."

"Woah!" Natsu said.

"That's so cool!" Sting shouted excitedly.

The others looked impressed, too.

Elle suddenly scooped up Sting, who was the closest, and squeezed him tightly. "Ohhh, you three are so cute! Let's get this training over with, I want to introduce you to a girl I know at the guild around your age!"

Sting, though surprised by suddenly being scooped up, pretty much shrugged and hugged the girl back.

All of a sudden, Acnologia had the amusing mental picture of Elle trying to hug Gajeel or Rogue. Rogue would probably take it.

Gajeel, though….that would be entertaining.

"Yeah, let's start training!" Natsu shouted. "I wanna get stronger! And beat him in a fight!"

He pointed at Laxus.

Acno snorted. "You really want to fight him when you're done?"

Natsu nodded excitedly.

"We should fight, too!" Serena said to Acno. "It'll be so much fun!"

Acnologia looked at him, unsure whether or not he was serious. "Really?"

"Yep!" Serena said. "And may the best dragon slayer win!"

"Me," Acnologia deadpanned. "It'll be me."

"Come on brats," he said, turning on his heel and leading the way deeper into the woods. "Let's get your training started."

* * *

 **For those of you who are going to ask...yes, you will be getting a perspective from the dragon parents next chapter.**

 **Poor Kinana and Wendy. The only sane people in the entire group.**


	12. Chapter Twelve - Mad Meetings

**Chapter Twelve - Mad Meetings**

 _"Tiago turned to survey the large, crowded ballroom. 'Good job not killing anybody.'  
'That's what Pia said,' Dragos told him. 'Night's not over yet'."  
― Thea Harrison, Dragos Goes to Washington_

* * *

The five of them were silent, looking at each other, before one of them finally broke it.

"Are NONE of us going to talk about this?" the only female of the group demanded.

The four males winced. There were reasons they tried not to get on her bad side.

"Look, Grandeeney-"

"No, Igneel!" she yelled. "Acnologia is fine now! More than that, he is raising _our_ children while we are stuck here, inside of them, and he actually seems slightly responsible – more responsible than you, certainly."

"That's enough," Igneel growled, probably only continuing because they were only communicating using magic and he was currently hidden safely inside Natsu's body, where Grandeeney couldn't reach him. "We didn't know what was going to happen, and I don't care if he's convinced these people he's better! I refuse to believe it."

"No, you refuse to believe that _your_ idiotic plan got us stuck in here, and _now_ you're upset that Acnologia is going to be raising _our_ children instead of _us!"_

Grandeeney's voice raised and the other three dragons winced in sympathy for the Fire Dragon King. It was hard to get the Sky Queen mad at you, but when you did, you didn't have long.

"You can't blame _all_ of this on me," Igneel said.

The other three dragons winced, well aware they were being thrown under the bus so Igneel could save his own tail.

"Oh, I'm _getting_ to them!" Grandeeney roared. "But I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET."

* * *

He felt a shiver race down his spine.

"Do you hear anything?" Acno asked Serena.

"Nah."

Acnologia looked around warily.

"Are you okay, Acno buddy?" Serena asked.

"I will be if you never call me that again."

* * *

"I CANNOT BELIEVE I TOOK YOUR ADVICE! YOUR PLANS NEVER WORK OUT, IGNEEL!"

"That's not true. Natsu-"

"OH, and don't even get me started on your plans for _him!_ How on earth you thought teaching E.N.D. Dragon Slaying Magic was a good idea I'll _never_ understand."

There were muttered agreement from the Shadow Dragon and the White Dragon, and Grandeeney turned her ire on the mated pair.

"Oh, so you agree with me on _that_?" She hissed. "I wasn't sure you _had_ any common sense. Let's talk about how your 'deaths'."

The two dragons winced and tried to move closer to each other.

"For starters, your slayers are the same age as Wendy. Five! _Years!_ **Old!"** The slip into Ancient Draconic made the couple wince. "And you thought it would be a good idea to make them think that they killed the only parental figure they can _remember?"_

The two hung their heads.

"I don't know which one of you I'm more upset of with!" she continued on her tirade before pausing. "Wait. That's a lie. I'm more upset with _you,_ Weisslogia."

"Me?" the dragon said, inwardly denying that it was a squeak.

 **" _You_."** The word cracked through the air and sent a shiver down his spine. " _At least_ when Skiadrum did his, he made it seem like he was going to die! Since he couldn't miraculously recover from his 'supposed' illness, he made it seem like they were using it to the best of their opportunity. You just went ahead and made Sting think he killed you! And _now_ he's being raised by _Acnologia?_ How do you think that will help him grow up properly?"

Weisslogia was cowering into his mate's side.

Metalicana was slowly sneaking away, trying to get away from the yelling.

"And WHERE do you think YOU'RE going?" Grandeeney roared at him.

Shit.

Igneel breathed a sigh of relief, which turned back to a gulp of fear as Grandeeney shot a glare back at him.

She turned back to Metalicana. "And what do YOU think about all of this?"

"Uh-"

" **YOU WILL TELL THE TRUTH!** " Grandeeney roared.

Metalicana shivered as Grandeeney commanded her voice with candor. The purity of Sky that allowed it to heal also allowed it to sense lies, and he was _not_ happy about this.

"I think it's ironic," he admitted.

" _You aren't upset_? AT ALL?" Grandeeney shrieked.

"Gajeel can take care of himself, and Acno seems to know what he's doing. Even if he doesn't, he said he belongs to a wizard guild. So they'll probably keep him in line."

To the surprise of everyone, Grandeeney calmed down (a bit).

"Alright then," Grandeeney agreed. "I guess we'll see what happens, then."

* * *

"Are you upset _now?"_ Grandeeney rumbled.

"I'm a bit more worried," Metalicana admitted.

The mated dark and light pair were rolling around, laughing, and Igneel seemed to be in a mix between exasperation and eagerness.

Acno was standing in the middle of the guildhall, which was falling apart around him.

"There is no way this will end well," Grandeeney moaned. "They're worse than him!"

* * *

Sometimes he really wished that he just took a bath in the ocean all those years ago.

It took a while before Acno deemed the children as 'acceptable' (which translates to: having enough control not to destroy anything they touch), and the group of them finally returned to Magnolia in the middle of _October_ (three fucking months of training). There _was_ a fight between Acno and Serena, which ended with Acno winning, Serena crying over more facial disfigurement (he got better) and nine teens unconscious on the ground from the sheer amount of magical power released during battle.

And then they returned to _this_ mess.

Well…it wasn't a mess until they _actually_ returned.

And now he was standing in the middle of a _mostly_ destroyed guild hall, surrounded by arguing children and debris with no idea how he had gotten there.

It all started when they finally came back to the guild.

Because the first thing that happened was Natsu making fun of Gray's stripping habit. And maybe it's because he values slayers more than strippers or something, because Gajeel jumped to Natsu's defense, which caused Lyon to jump to Gray's defense.

And there was pure chaos from there.

Acnologia was mostly happy that Elle wasn't in the middle of anything. Instead, she had dragged the three youngest slayers and was introducing them to Yukino.

He knew they'd get along. There's always been a connection between Slayers and Stellars.

Levy and Freed were watching with wide eyes, taking everything in. Acno suspected they were trying to see if they could prevent something like this from happening again with any of their magic - or at least the level of destruction. Nothing would stop these brats from fighting again.

Jellal thought it would be better if he stayed out of the fight, but then Erza joined in. The demonic redhead tried to stop the boys from fighting while Bickslow sent one of his souls to distract her, because he wanted to watch the chaos.

So Erza turned on Bickslow and Jellal joined the fight anyway, trying to stop Erza from murdering a guildmember.

Evergreen had also been staying out of the fight, doing her hair away from them.

Unfortunately, Bickslow crashed into her when running from Erza and _she_ ended up involved, too.

Cana just joined in because she wanted too.

And Makarov was too busy crying to do anything else. He seemed stuck between wanting more slayers and wanting to run as far away as possible.

"Someone needs to inform the Council," he moaned.

"They already know!" God Serena said cheerfully.

Makarov passed out.

Yeah. Sometimes Acno _really_ wished that he had just gone swimming in the ocean instead.

"That's ENOUGH!" He roared, still in English. Ancient Draconic wouldn't help him here.

Everything came to a halt.

Elle looked up from where she was introducing Yukino to the kid slayers and took in the world around her.

"What the fuck happened here?" She asked.

Laxus and Erik, who had been sitting next to each other the whole time, snorted. Elle was perched on Laxus's lap and Kinana was curled into Erik's side to watch the chaos and Elle introduce the brats to each other.

Acnologia ignored her. "No more fighting. Freed, Levy, can you start repairing the guild?"

"I'm on it!" Levy shouted, and started dragging Freed off.

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Does anyone know where Gildarts, Mari, or Ur are? _Anyone?"_

"They're on a date," Macao said.

"All three of them? Together?" Acno asked, raising an eyebrow.

Macao, Wakaba, and Enno all nodded from the table they were using to stay out of the fight.

"That's a new development," Acnologia muttered.

"Please don't talk about it," Cana, Gray, and Lyon said simultaneously.

He inwardly snorted. This wasn't the first time someone had bothered them about it, then.

"Why?" Gajeel asked. "Is it-"

"Shut up and listen," Acno growled. "You kids are going to clean this up, sit in one corner of the guild, and _think about what you did_."

His finger was held out (pointing where exactly, he didn't know) but he felt the talon from the hand extend.

The four troublemakers that started the fight all started dashing around to help Levy and Freed, until they nearly got in another fight when Natsu and Gajeel crashed into each, until they were all just sent straight to a corner.

This was going to be hell.

* * *

He was right. It was hell.

Now he was raising five kids, plus Erik and Laxus and Kinana and Elle because they were over ALL THE TIME.

And everything led to chaos.

And not _his_ kind of chaos.

"What?" he repeated, staring down at Elle.

"I said, 'We're supposed to dress up!'" she said. "It's almost the end of October, and I don't even have a costume yet!"

"A costume?" Acno asked. "For what?"

"Halloween!"

"And what's that?" He rolled his eyes.

"You dress up and go door to door and say 'trick-or-treat' and you get candy from the neighbors!"

Acnologia sighed. "I've never _heard_ of Halloween, which makes me doubt that anyone else in Fiore has either. Dress up all you like, but you won't be able to go door-to-door."

The girl huffed and crossed her arms. "You said we can dress up?"

He nodded.

"Fine," the girl said. "I'll talk to the kids and we'll make costumes. You talk to Makarov about a Halloween party and pick up supplies."

And then he was outside his house.

Sometimes, he really doesn't know why he bothers.

He returned sometime later with the supplies and information about the guild party. He also had an S Class quest, something he needed to do so he could relax.

"Laxus, you're in charge," he told Laxus.

Laxus didn't respond, listening to music on his SoundPod, but Elle smiled at Acno and nodded. "Thanks," she said, grabbing the tools and moving back over to her mate, who wrapped her up immediately.

With one final sigh, Acnologia left the house and went on the mission.

* * *

While the kids obviously enjoyed this randomly made up holiday, they left a mess behind in the house. And even though he cleaned it up, he found that he was still finding glitter several years later.

* * *

 **Yoooooo.**

 **So... About this story.**

 **I have the main points set out, but I don't know how to get there. So I'm taking requests for things to happen in between (like those bonus or OVA episodes). You mention something in the comments and I might try to fit it in. For example: Halloween.**

 **Also, the Ripples spin-off Avengers crossover is on the internet! And it's called Tsunami. Please go check it out. :)**

 **as of 6/20/19 - The Ultear typo is fixed. ULTEAR IS NOT AT THE GUILD. She is with Master Hades.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen - Memories in Mind

**Chapter Thirteen - Memories in Mind**

" _She crooned in his head. 'Honey, I'm so proud of you for not killing anybody.' His gaze flashed to hers, and that flat, assessing expression vanished as he laughed. Squeezing her fingers, he told her, 'Week's not over yet'."_

 _― Thea Harrison, Dragos Goes to Washington_

* * *

 _"Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the voice shouted as the teen ran down the hill with a piece of parchment in his hand. "I got it I got it I got it!"_

 _"Calm down, Acno," the small blonde told him from the blanket she was sitting on. "You're going to scare Tsukino."_

 _"It was_ one time _!" Tsukino groaned, rolling over on the blanket, white hair gleaming in the sunlight. "It's not my fault he can appear out of nowhere."_

 _Connor snickered from where he sat beside them. His smaller twin was draped over him, staring at the blades of grass a few inches from her face._

 _"What's up with Dior?" Acnologia said, slowing to a halt as he approached the picnic._

 _"_ Dior _? What's wrong_ you _?" Connor asked, snorting._

 _Acno was dressed nicely, in a frilly shirt and nice pants. His hair was combed to the side and cut shorter than normal, down to his chin rather than his shoulders._

 _"You look like you're going to a function with Anna," Tsukino pointed out. "You clean up nicely, Acno."_

 _Acnologia scowled. The Fernandez clan was the closest to nature (with the exception of the Rigbys, because they were nuts) and as such he usually wore clothes comfortable for him to sleep and hunt in. He didn't care for any sort of poofy ruffled clothes._

 _"It looks horrible," Connor said. "You look nothing like yourself. I don't like it."_

 _"Acno, you're going to ruin these nice pants," Anna pointed out. "And why are you dressed up so nicely, anyway?"_

 _Acnologia grinned. "Matori said I had to look 'presentable' for the dragon function. Because, you know, it's not like dragons live in the woods or anything."_

 _With the exception of Anna, all of them snorted, even Dior, who was preoccupied with her grass._

 _Anna was too ladylike to snort, as she was nobility, but Acno saw her hiding a smile just the same, and felt a rush of victory for breaking her composure._

 _"Anyway, they approved me!" Acno continued excitedly. "I'm going to be a dragon slayer!"_

 _The four others turned to him, completely focused._

 _"Aren't you worried?" Dior asked quietly, rolling off of Connor and towards Acno. Connor grunted as she hit a few things she shouldn't have. "I've heard that there can be some bad consequences if you become a slayer after maturity. And if it does work…it means you're going to war."_

 _Dior being quiet wasn't good. One of the twins is loud, the other is quiet. There's a sort of rule in the balance of nature about it. Normally, Dior was the loud one and Connor was the quiet one. If Dior was being quiet, she was thinking._

 _And Dior thinking wasn't…the best thing._

 _"So I'll go to war," Acnologia answered, staring at them. Tsukino was nine, the twins were twelve, and Anna was fourteen. He himself was only now approaching a seventeenth year. "As the oldest of our generation, it is my duty to protect you all."_

 _Anna held out a hand and grasped him. "We just worry about you, 'Logi. We don't want you to get hurt."_

 _He softened as he took her hand. "It's worth it to protect you. All. Protect you all."_

 _He hoped that the blush that appeared was hidden by his darker skin, but from the snickering from Connor, Dior, and Tsukino, it didn't._

 _"You guys are so cute," Tsukino muttered._

 _"Yeah, it's so sweet my teeth are gonna fall out," Connor muttered, after a beat of silence._

 _Dior had returned to staring at the grass._

 _Normally, their personalities were reversed._

 _"Dior?" Acno asked._

 _"It's not a good idea for you to be a dragon slayer," she said, with a point of finality. "But it is the only road you have ahead."_

 _"Dee?" Conner asked, worried._

 _"Something is coming," Dior whispered._

"Acno? Acno?"

He snapped awake, and looked down at Sting, who was staring up at him, his head cocked to his side curiously.

"What is it?" Acnologia asked blearily, rubbing the new crick in his neck.

"Is that normal?"

Acno's eyes followed Sting's pointed finger to what looked like a puddle of oil on the floor.

"How the hell should I know?" Acno asked. "I've only lived in this house for like…two months."

"That's when we moved in," Sting said, confused.

"That's because I lived in a cave before you brats showed up," Acno said, rubbing his forehead. "I've never lived in a house. I mean, black spots have never just appeared in the guild, but…"

"But it's Rogue!" Sting protested.

Acno paused. "What?"

"Well, Rogue was jealous that Gajeel had an Iron Body so he decided to try and turn into a shadow and now he's gone and there's a spot on the floor."

Acno stared at him, before rubbing his forehead again. "Alright, I'm going to need a flashlight, a shovel, a stick of butter, and no questions."

"What do you need butter for?"

The two turned around to see Rogue standing behind them.

"I thought I said no questions," Acno said, looking back and forth between the shadow that was still on the floor and Rogue. "Wait, how did you get up here?"

"…I took the stairs," Rogue said.

"What stairs?"

"…the ones to the basement?" Rogue replied slowly.

"We have a basement?"

* * *

"What are _those_?" Elle said in a loud voice, gesturing to his feet in horror.

"…feet?" Acnologia answered, looking down, before he looked back at the girl. "I have a better question. What are you doing in my kitchen?"

At least the Rigby's he grew up with were still slightly sane.

Maybe the sanity is split between twins? And since she doesn't have one, she's just crazier than normal?

Elle ignored his questions and continued. " _Bare_ feet. They're _bare_. You need to wear _shoes_!"

"We're making a cake for Onii-sama!" Juvia said happily, putting a bowl on the table. Yukino was digging through the drawers for a spatula from the counter she sat on.

"I haven't worn shoes in nearly four-hundred years," Acno said, annoyed. "And it hasn't bothered you before."

"Yeah, but now you're a _role model_ ," Elle said, rolling her eyes and dumping some flour in the bowl Juvia had given her. She took the spatula that Yukino gave her and started mixing in eggs. "The other slayers grew up in the wilderness, right? I noticed Natsu running around in nothing but shorts and a scarf the other day."

Acno winced. Gray and Lyon had both been arrested for indecency _twice_ in the last week. They weren't really in trouble, per se, but they get a fine every time they're caught with their pants down. On the bright side, since Ur makes the boys pay off the fines themselves, they've started wearing swimsuits all the time, so it's only a real problem if they rip everything off.

Doesn't really stop them from stripping, though.

"I still haven't worn shoes in four hundred years," Acno complained, mostly upset Rigby actually had a _point_. "And how the hell am I supposed to fight in _shoes_?"

"What about sandals?" Elle asked.

Juvia nodded. "Acno-sama can take them off to fight, and they should be sociably acceptable."

"I don't think you can just use your cape as a shirt, though," Elle muttered. "Not without seeming like a hypocrite."

"You're a hypocrite," Acno shot.

Elle paused, thinking. "Probably." She shrugged. "But kids will be the _worst_ if you're a hypocrite when you're in charge of them."

"How do you know?" Acno asked, raising an eyebrow. Not only had she lost her memory, but he hadn't even heard of any Rigby in centuries, so it's not like she was raised by one or had siblings.

Elle paused again in her mixing. "You know what? I…don't know."

"Where even _are_ my slayers?" Acno asked, feeling a sense of foreboding. Sting and Rogue had both left to the guild after they moved a rug over the black spot that refused to go away, but…

"Relax, they're at the guild," Elle said, waving his worries away.

"Doing what?"

"Distracting Onii-sama!" Juvia piped in.

"Why?"

The three girls paused, even Yukino staring at him oddly.

"…Because it's Laxus's birthday tomorrow?" Elle said, giving him a strange look. "Why do you think we're baking a cake?"

A creak had them all turning to see Kinana coming in through the backdoor with bags. "I got the ingredients for the frosting," she said as everyone stared at her.

Elle brightened. "Great!" She turned to Yukino. "Yukino, do you want to help Kinana with the frosting?"

Yukino shook her head, gripping onto Elle's pants leg.

Elle crouched down in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

In a voice so low, _he_ could barely hear it, he heard Yukino whisper, "I don't want to mess it up."

"You won't mess it up, sweetie," Elle said, hugging her. To Acno's surprise, Juvia and Kinana joined in on the hug, as did Wendy, who had apparently been out with Kinana. "But if you're really that worried, how about you just watch really carefully and try next time, alright?"

Yukino nodded and Elle propped her up on the table next to where Kinana put down the frosting ingredients.

 _What's wrong with her_? Acno asked Elle in her mind.

"MOTHERFU-" Elle cut herself off and put a hand to her chest. She turned to Juvia. "Juvia, sweetheart, can you mix this for me? Remember the rule!"

"No magic, only tools," she said, nodding.

"Wendy, can you measure out the milk?" Elle asked Wendy. The girl nodded.

Elle lead Acno out of the room. "What was that about?" Acno asked.

"Juvia tried to mix the batter with her magic," Elle said, sighing. "I had to explain to her that using water to mix it would mess it up. Anyway, _what_ the _fuck_?"

"You've never communicated telepathically?" Acno asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I have, but you couldn't just ask to speak to me privately?" Elle asked, glaring at him. "Or you couldn't have knocked?"

" _Knocked_?" Acno asked incredulously.

"Yeah, you know," Elle said, shrugging.

He stared at her. Just when he thought she couldn't get even crazier…

"No, I couldn't have knocked!" Acnologia said, staring. "What, you want me to walk up and knock on your head? You think that wouldn't be noticeable?"

"I mean knock, like…mentally," Elle said, rolling her eyes.

"No, no, no, don't you fucking roll your eyes at me. Nothing about what you're saying makes sense."

"Of course it does!"

"Whatever. Just…what's wrong with Yukino?"

Elle winced. "She…watched her sister get taken and her parents killed when she was two. So she's sort of selectively mute, for the most part."

Acno raised an eyebrow. " _Selectively_ mute?"

"Do you not know what 'selectively' or 'mute' means?" Elle asked sarcastically.

"I've just never heard it put that way," Acno said.

Elle shrugged. "Well, she's doing better. She generally won't talk anywhere except for here, the guild hall, and Fairy Hills. Usually, selective mutism only kicks in when you're scared of people, but I'm guess it was because she had to hide from the people that killed her parents and took her sister. She was probably afraid to make any noise, so she's probably still scared to be too loud about things."

Acno stared at her.

"What?" Elle asked, annoyed.

"Nothing," he said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

Ugh, and he remembered when he thought Connor and Dior were bad.

"I'm going to the guild," he finally said. "Don't burn the house down."

"I'm not Natsu!" Elle protested.

 _You're worse_ , he was tempted to say, but 1) it wasn't true (yet), and 2) he remembered just how crazy Dior could be when she was upset. It just wasn't worth it.

* * *

"Go Fish!" Cana said cheerfully.

Laxus cursed and Acno raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck are you guys playing?"

"Go Fish," they all said in unison.

"Laxus, do you have any Lamia Scales?" Natsu asked.

"Dammit!" Laxus threw three cards with Lamia Scale's emblem on it down.

"Yeah, I win!" Natsu shouted, bursting into flame.

Lyon and Gray instantly hit him with some ice magic.

"That's the fifth time, Natsu!" Cana yelled. "Stop burning my cards!"

She separated the burnt cards from the unburnt and made new copies to replace the destroyed ones.

"Why am I so bad at this?" Laxus muttered, before glaring at Erik. "Erik, are you cheating?"

"If I was cheating, _do you think I'd be this bad at the game?!_ " Erik growled.

Acno noticed how he avoided the question.

"Can I play now?" Erza asked.

"No," everyone else said in unison.

Sting was slowly inching one of his shiny white cards towards his mouth, and Rogue hit him. "Stop it."

"Gihiiiii, Sting's trying to eat cards again," Gajeel said.

"STING!" Cana yelled.

Acno sat down next to Erza. "So why won't they let you play?"

"Because she flips tables," Jellal and Levy said together.

"I won't this time," Erza said, sinking into her seat.

"That's what you said last time," the two said in unison again.

"Stop being creepy!" Cana yelled at them.

"We're not creepy," the cousins said.

"You realize you're yelling and we have enhanced ears, right?" Laxus asked Cana.

"Well, fuck you, too!" Cana yelled.

"What the fuck even _is_ this game?" Acno asked, looking around at the different guild sigils.

"Elle came up with it," everyone said in unison.

"Ah," Acnologia said, leaning back.

"Oh, ACNO~" Serena sang, dancing into the room.

 _Nope._

"If anyone needs me, I'll be bludgeoning myself unconscious," Acno muttered, before getting up and leaving. "Don't need me."

* * *

"You're back?" Elle said, raising an eyebrow as he slammed the door shut behind him.

"No, I'm not," he said, walking into his bedroom and curling on a pile of blankets before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

It was the knocking on the door that awoke him.

Growling, he got up and marched towards the front door, yanking it open.

"What?" he growled.

He took one look at the little girl standing there, staring at him, and before she had a chance to open her mouth, he shut the door again.

Acno closed his eyes and counted to three in his head, before opening the door again.

Still there.

The girl opened her mouth again. He shut the door. "Wendy!"

There was the sound of running and Wendy ran into the room, currently wiping batter out of her hair. "Yes, Acno-sama?"

"Am I hallucinating?"

"…A-a-ano?..."

He raised an eyebrow at her and she reached a hand out and put it on him. "N-no, Acno-sama, you're f-fine."

"You're sure?" he asked.

She nodded.

Acno opened the door. "Do you see her, too?"

Wendy nodded again.

"Are you okay, mister?" the girl said.

"No. Why are you here?" Acno asked.

"Ellie-nee said to come here!" the girl said brightly.

Acno took another deep breath and rubbed his forehead. "Does this 'Ellie-nee' of yours have purple hair?"

"Yep!"

He closed his eyes, counted to three, and then shouted, "ELLE!"

"WHAT?" he heard her shout back.

"IF NOTHING IS GOING TO EXPLODE, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE."

The girl at the door frowned. "Mrs. Spetto says that's a bad word."

Acno stared at her. _"NOW,_ ELLE."

"Okay, I'm here, jeez," Elle said, walking towards the front door. "Who's this?"

"It's Lucy!" the girl said brightly. "You're my big sister!"

"What?" Elle asked. "I…I'm sorry, but I don't remember you."

"That's okay," Lucy said nodding, "You told me you wouldn't."

"What?" Acno said, staring at them.

Lucy nodded. "Ellie-nee said she had to go on a mission and told me to come to this address on this day."

"When did she tell you this?" Acno asked. He hadn't even known about the house a few months ago.

"On my birthday! June 1st!"

Acno paused. "… _this_ year?"

"No, silly. _Last_ year."

"I'm confused," Elle said.

"You're not the only one," Acno muttered.

"ELLE!" a pink-haired menace screamed, running up to the door. "We can't distract him much longer, Laxus is gonna come home soon!"

Natsu stared at the girl next to him. "Woah, who are you?"

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia," Lucy told him making a small curtsy.

"You're pretty," Natsu told her.

"I need to check on the cake," Elle said, fleeing for the kitchen.

"Don't-"

Too late. He was left behind with the children.

"Alright, get your asses inside."

"Mrs. Spetto-" Lucy started.

"Said it's a bad word, blah blah blah," Acno interrupted. He held the door open. "In. Now."

The children obeyed and walked inside. Before he closed the door, Acno spotted Laxus walking up to the house. Acno shook his head and mimed leaving.

Laxus raised an eyebrow but walked closer.

Luckily before he could continue, he was waylaid by the Raijinshu, who insisted that he _had_ to come with him.

Laxus gave Acno a pleading look, trying to get out of it, but Acno shook his head, completely forgetting about the cake for a bit.

Laxus was better off without the children.

He slammed the door shut and whirled around to look at the kids. Natsu, _Lucy_ , and Wendy were sitting on the couch. Lucy was staring at the black spot on the floor. Acno grunted and moved the rug over so it was covering the spot better.

"Mrs. Spetto-" the girl started.

"Alright, first things first, does anyone know you're here?" he asked her.

"Well, my Mommy knew," Lucy said.

Acno's wave of relief vanished very quickly. If this was the Heartfilia heiress, then her mother would have died when she opened the gate, based on her magical power.

"But Mommy died a few months ago," Lucy said, slumping a bit. Natsu hugged her.

"Cheer up!" Natsu said. A look of anger passed over Lucy's face before Natsu continued. "I didn't know your Ma, but she probably loved you lots! And she wouldn't want you to be sad."

Acno rubbed his forehead. "Does anyone _else_ know you're here?" he asked.

"Uh…." Lucy blanked.

Great. Acno was starting to get a headache.

"...Ellie-nee?" Lucy offered.

Yep, that's a headache. And now he had a runaway. A runaway _heiress_.

"Wendy, I've got a headache, if you would?" he asked the small girl.

She touched his side and glowed a bit, before pulling back. "A-ano, I c-can't."

"Why not?" Acno asked, trying not to sound mad.

"I-it's a str-ess headache," Wendy said, poking her fingers together as she stared down at them to avoid his eyes. "I can't h-heal stress headaches."

Acno held in his groan. Of course she couldn't.

"Great. Just…great."

* * *

Well, he didn't get arrested. And the Heartfilia patriarch wasn't going to press charges, since he admitted that his daughter technically ran away and wasn't kidnapped.

Somewhere in the ruckus, Acno ended up having to watch the girl for part of the year. Something about wanting magic and running away from the lack of it.

He didn't really understand it, but somehow, one of the spare bedrooms in his large house was taken again, and he now had another child to watch.

Laxus had a great birthday, with the exception of Freed yelling 'wench' at Elle every once in awhile and being quickly shuffled away by Bickslow and Evergreen so Laxus wouldn't punch him.

The cake Elle made was very good, and taking a bite of it was like diving into a lake of memories.

 _"So how was training?" Anna teased. She was a few years older now – they all were._

 _Acno collapsed next to the rest of the group, sitting on the soft mound so he'd be comfortable. "Exhausting. Good though, I can feel it. My Stellar Magic fusing with the dragon." Anna scooted closer to him and curled into his side._

 _"Well, since we know that everything is going well, I made a cake to celebrate!" Connor said cheerfully._

 _Dior cleared her throat._

 _Connor rolled his eyes. "_ We _made a cake. Mostly me, though."_

 _Acno was glad Dior didn't dispute that. He was convinced that the Rigby bloodline had some sort of blood magic sacrifice in terms of baking. One twin would be horrible at it, and the other would be amazing and create slightly addictive food._

 _The family claimed they had no sort of 'baking magic' but Acnologia refused to believe it._

 _Connor brought out the cake which they separated into pieces, Anna pulling out of his embrace to eat. Acnologia had a bite before Dior leaned against him. "Enjoy your cake 'Acno-nii-san'." And then, in a quieter voice that the others didn't hear and that Acno himself would've missed if not for his heightened sense, she quietly said, "It will be the last for much time."_

"Acno?"

The soft voice brought him out of his memories. Elle was standing near him, looking at him worriedly.

Recently resurfaced from memories, he couldn't help but compare Elle to her ancestors – his old friends. She didn't have a twin, of course, but Elle was also matured a lot more, both mentally and with her magic. The signs were in her hair, which was a much more vivid and bright purple than Connor's and Dior's were, which had been a very dark plum color.

He didn't like all the reminders of his past. There were children from all five bloodlines, and five children from the dragons he had fought with (and fought against).

Acnologia didn't know that much about time, for all that it was involved in both Dragon and Stellar Magic. But in his mind, he could almost see these events layering over themselves, the past repeating.

Except this time around, he feared Laxus would play the role of Acno and Elle the role of Anna.

His gaze traveled around to linger on the kids; first the Slayers, then the Stellars, and then the rest.

Fate was coming, and they would all be casualties of war if they weren't prepared.

He felt his face tighten as he considered them.

No. The Dragon King festival would not win this time around. He wouldn't let it.

"I'm good," he told Elle. "Cake's good, thanks."

She smiled at him before she went over to join the other group, draping herself over Laxus' shoulders and watching a group of the kids play Go Fish again.

There was an innocence to all of them. Laxus and Erik were genetically modified against their will, Elle was nearly sacrificed, Kinana was stuck in another form, Gray lost his family to Deliora and nearly watched his second family die to him, too. He blamed himself for their near-death, and Lyon had his world shattered as Ur and then Acnologia faced Deliora. Erza was a slave and tortured, Bickslow was attacked by his parents, Freed ran away, Evergreen and Juvia were bullied. Levy, Jet, and Droy lost their families to raids, Yukino hid and had to watch her family killed/taken at the age of two.

But despite all that they'd been through, there was still a happiness to them, a joy in the smallest thing, a naivete and innocence most lose as they get older.

Something was coming for them, and Acno wouldn't let that happen. They had to get stronger – all of them. Training was important, and he'd start it after the new year.

Maybe they'd lose their innocence by the end of everything, but at least they'd still be alive.

* * *

 **So, it's a bit of a dark ending but surprise! Chapter!**


End file.
